Call to Action
Sunday February 8th, 2026
Scripture: Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
The fast that God chooses
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)
God's wisdom revealed through the Spirit
Message: Call To Action
Deb Beutel, Lay Leader
This week, Isaiah calls us to action. Of course, the first action Isaiah calls us to is confession. As we near the season of Lent, confession is a meaningful practice for our communities to engage. As Isaiah models for us, we need to name our sin so that we know what to turn away from. And then he calls us to action, with the need for a Fast.
This is a message we need today— whatever “today” you and we as a congregation are facing. Whatever “today” has gripped our community, our nation, our world. Too many of us say we don’t need the Hebrew scriptures anymore. We’ve got the gospels; we’ve got Jesus; that’s good enough.
But these are the words that Jesus knew, the words Jesus lived by, that called him into the ministry he passed on to us. We need these words to give us hope, even as they bring a challenge and a burden. We need these words to stir our hearts to action. There are breaches that need repairing. There are divides that need healing. There are ruins that need to be rebuilt. There are many who have been pushed to the margins of an increasingly heartless society who need to be set free from poverty, from injustice, from all that declares them less than human. This is the fast that has been chosen for us. This could have been my shortest sermon ever, what some messages describe as a “Nike sermon.” After reading the text, the sermon is simply, “Just do it.” But, it isn’t quite that simple.
Isaiah starts with “Fasting” as an act of worship. And while “Fasting” and other spiritual disciplines are always encouraged, perhaps some of us overzealous doers, should consider other less “action oriented” spiritual practices.
Sometimes when we do too much according to our own idea of what God’s plan is for us, we miss the boat. Our doing and planning can sometimes derail us from giving our full attention to the praise and worship of God. This can often result in our actions being less about the one being worshipped, and unfortunately more about ourselves, the worshiper.
Rather than the focus being on God, the focus is on the self. “Why don’t you see me? Look how humble I am.” The prophet rails, “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day and oppress all your workers.”
And while none of us would intentionally be so blatant, if we fail to sit still and hear the quiet voice of God, we risk trying to force our plan vice trusting and living into “God’s Plan for our lives.
None of us would sit in our sanctuaries and wave to God, saying, “Look at me.” Yet, the “what’s in it for me” attitude is rampant in our secular society and often sits in the back of our minds where we aren’t even aware of it, until we begin to wonder if we’re on the right track.
We start to think maybe we should try something else to get more for us, to be more fulfilled. Isaiah has a different antidote to that empty feeling: Get out of yourself. It’s that simple. Get out of yourself.
That is difficult and complicated in a culture that focuses so relentlessly on the individual. Get out of yourself. “Is such the fast that I choose?” says Isaiah to the Lord Almighty. “A day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?” (Isaiah 58:5 NRSV)
Perhaps the action that is called for in this message we need today— whatever “today” we and your congregation are facing. Whatever “today” has gripped our community, your nation, your world, is to take a pause and think, to reflect and to contemplate. To take a moment a pause, or to look at the Psalms and considering taking a “Selah.” Selah. This beautiful, thoughtful, yet mysterious word appears in the Bible primarily in the book of Psalms. But what does it mean, and why is it there?
The question of what Selah means has been debated for centuries. Many have suggested that it means, "to pause, or to reflect", and this explanation makes sense based on the context.
The word Selah is a Hebrew word spelled “S_ E_ L_ A_ H” and pronounced “See la,“ and it occurs seventy-one times in the book of Psalms and three times in Habakkuk. The seventy-one appearances in Psalms happen within thirty-nine of the Psalms, as the word Selah is often repeated within the same Psalm. But why is it there?
Based on the context, it is generally accepted that Selah is a musical term of some sort, and is there to provide musical direction.
Thirty-one of the thirty-nine Psalms that include the word Selah are titled, "to the choirmaster." The prophetic book of Habakkuk, like the Psalms, is a book of poetry, and the third chapter is a prayer in the form of a song. It is in this musical chapter that we find the word Selah. This certainly reinforces the idea that Selah is a kind of musical notation or expression, and that it was known and understood by musicians and even those who were just singing along.
I like to think of the word Selah as a note to pause and contemplate God’s word much like the practice of Lectio Divina (Latin for "Divine Reading") which is a traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's word.[1]
Traditionally, Lectio Divina has four separate steps: read; meditate; pray; contemplate. First a passage of Scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.[3] Many commentators have stated that Selah meant 'to pause' or 'to reflect', which sounds an awful lot like Lectio Divina to me. This could have been a request for the reader or listener to pause and think about what has just been said, or it could have been a space for voices to pause and for instruments play alone. We don't really know for certain.
Regardless, the word Selah itself indeed causes us to pause and consider what God may be saying even when we don't fully understand. Selah gives us an opportunity to take a moment away from this crazy, busy, non-stop life we all tend to live and consider the immense mysteries and wonders of God.
I recently had a dear friend post about her current status in her battle with Ovarian Cancer. She shared her feeling of being in her own personal “Selah”. She shared the following description of “SELAH” and I have to say she brought tears to my eyes:
“I am living in the “Selah.”
The sacred space between the cry and the comfort. The hollow pause between the groaning and the glory.
Between “Why, Lord?” and “Now I see.”
Between the ashes and the crown.
Selah…I used to rush past that word in the Psalms. Skimmed it like a speed bump on the way to something louder, clearer, resolved.
But now I know it’s more than a pause.
It is a dwelling place.
A deep exhale in the middle of unanswered prayers.
A quiet held between sobs and songs.
I am sitting here, in the ache that has not yet lifted, in the wound that has not yet healed, in the prayer that still waits for its amen.
I am not where I was, but not yet where I long to be. I am in the middle…the Selah.
And I am learning this:
The pause is not empty.
The silence is not God’s absence.
It is His breath over the waters again.
It is the same voice that spoke in the beginning, not always with words, but with weight.
With presence. Here, He teaches me to wait like the psalmists did, not with passive resignation, but with hope.
Selah does not mean the story is over.
It means: Stop. Ponder. Let the weight of what was just said sink into your bones.
It means: Don’t miss this moment.
It means: God is still speaking, even in the stillness.
This is the space between grief and healing.
Between brokenness and breakthrough.
Between Good Friday and Resurrection Morning.
I thought healing would feel like a moment, a flash of divine power.
But what if healing looks more like dwelling in the pause?
Like learning to trust the Surgeon while He’s still stitching the wound closed?
Selah: the ground is still wet with my tears, but the roots are reaching deeper.
Selah: I am not whole, but I am being held.
Selah: I don’t have answers, but I know the Answerer is near.
I used to beg for the fast-forward button.
Now I just pray not to miss Him in the slow unfolding.
Not to miss the revelation in the space between.
So I sit. I breathe. I ache. I hope.
And I whisper that word with trembling lips—
Selah.”
And although I empathized greatly with her struggle, because I have never been through it myself, it would be unfair to say that I could completely relate to her situation. I can however say that after hearing her description of her personal “Selah,” I actually think it applies to so many of us in our own personal “Selah” moments, times and spaces!
It made me go back to the moment I was going thru my own personal “Selah” right after I finally retired when I thought I had a perfect plan for retirement and increased ministry involvement! What is the old saying, “We plan and God laughs!” When “my plan” went sideways in Spring 2024, I remember our District Superintendent told me to pray and to just sit in the pew! As a type A, power squirrel and OCD planner, I initially thought his advice was anything but helpful. However, as I let go of “my plan,” and sat in the pew waiting to hear God’s still quiet voice and for God to reveal his plan for me to me - something incredible happened! It was precisely in this “Selah” moment that I truly came to understand and appreciate the meaning of Exodus 14:14!
Exodus 14:14 gives us an incredible model for spiritual resilience, illustrating how faith can be maintained in the face of overwhelming challenges. The Israelites were confronted with fear and uncertainty, emotions that resonate with many believers’ experiences today. Yet, Moses’ message encourages a deeper understanding of faith that transcends circumstances.
The directive to "be still" implies an active choice to trust in God despite the chaos surrounding them. This call to stillness invites us as believers to reflect on our own worries and anxieties, encouraging us to find peace through faith and reliance on God’s promises.
I had my own “in between” and “Selah” moment. God is talking to each of us in our own personal “Selah” moments, and reminding us that he is there always and everywhere and we are never alone. And sometimes, we just need to have faith, believe and know that, “God will fight for you; you only need to be still.”
So perhaps we should be encouraged, have faith and know that perhaps this message is the message we need today— whatever “today” we and our congregations are facing. Whatever “today” has gripped our community, our nation, our world. Perhaps we need to take a pause, to rest, discern and reflect. And maybe just maybe we are supposed to sit in the pew for a spell….
That is how we glorify God, how we reveal God’s glory to the world. Be still and know he is God! Perhaps that is our call to action.