Selah

Ben and Andrew are doing an amazing job with their entries. I'm working on a series and trying to decide where to put it.

But for now I thought I'd write a short "Shaleh." Shaleh is sort of like "shalom" or "selah" in a story I'm working on. Sometimes "amen".

Will you walk a road with me, a slight deviation from the path we're currently on? It's short; I promise, and little lingers there. Let me take you through the lush green woods laden with purple and red and yellow flowers, a cemetery surrounded by mist and a rod-iron fence and covered in vines and solemn tombs. Let's trudge uphill over moist black earth to the top of a hill with a sturdy oak tree still red and gold in the autumn chill. A light breeze rustles through our hair and clothes, and the leaves seem to stir in a kind of woodland song.

Can you hear the melody?

We'll reach the top and lean against the bark of a trunk wider than our waists and gaze out across a black sand beach to a vast horizon line with an emerald sea below and a sapphire sky above, blazing pink and orange as the sun begins to sink into its nightly slumber.

Can you hear the harmony line, where the ocean rises to kiss rock and sand?

"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
“ Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the LORD’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“ Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he said, “What shall I cry?”


“ All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.


Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

“ To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:

“ My way is hidden from the LORD,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint."

Can you hear the song of all creation?

"All the earth bows down.
All the earth sings praise to you.
All the earth bows down,
And sings praise to your name.

Bow down before the Lord;
Worship him.
Bow down before the Lord;
Enter in.

Consuming fire and sweet perfume,
His awesome presence fills this room;
This is holy ground,
So come and bow down."

Shaleh.

We continue to stand side to side, gazing out as the sun takes its final breath and vanishes over the horizon line. There is a burst of blinding color, and then the slate grays and pale purples of twilight mix with dark greens, yellows, and blacks, until none remains but the teal and navy of night against a pale moon and the evening stars.

Still we fix our eyes, content in silence, in this rhythm of creation as our hearts settle from all fears and doubts, and the air begins to cool.

"Yet this I call to mind, and therefore have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his mercies never fail; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.

"I said to my soul, 'the Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

"It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep silent, because God has laid it on him; let him put his mouth in the dust— There may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, and be full of reproach.

"For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men."

Shaleh.