Writing Songs, Taking Selah

By Esther Belin

I have been reading through the Psalms the last few days, paying special attention to chapters I normally gloss over – like Psalm 3. This psalm is labeled as “A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.”  (For more about that conflict see 2 Samuel, chapters 15-18.) This notation sets a virulent tone – one of sorrow, tragedy, and confusion. David, the one known as a man after God’s own heart, fully exercises all his emotions in song!

I love how God uses songs as a way to dialogue with Him. Knowing that these psalms incorporate Hebrew poetry and structure makes me so curious to study them in Hebrew – especially because I am appreciative of writing as an art. But I am more appreciative of David as a servant of the Most High God. I wonder at the dialogue between him and God. When God asked David to write about this painful and lonely time, what was David’s reaction? Did he agree readily? Or did an emotional tornado wrench at his body and soul at the thought of reliving that time? 

I appreciate that David not only obeyed God, but that his retelling of this painful time does so in music and poem. Beauty from ashes. When I am in the middle of a painful situation – and I don’t even want to pray (or know what to pray), I can always trust that reading through the psalms gives me hope. I thank our loving Father God that He wants us to be emotionally healthy – God expects us to feel and He also wants us to write our own song of beauty from ashes.  He wants us to be consumed by Him – to refine, to reposition, to rejoice! Crazy hard, but doable (Romans 12:12 ESV).  

Additionally, three instances of Selah are included in this short psalm. Selah generally infers a pause – a rest to take in God’s presence, a meditation.

I love this intentional call for a pause. In this particular psalm, I imagine the Selah as a time to fully cry unto God or fully praise God – either way, a true pouring out of self. I can totally visualize David doing both.   

The verse that comforts me the most is verse 5:

“I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.” When we “cry aloud” to God, He answers us “from his holy hill” that we may “lie down and sleep.” 

God wants to give us rest! He knows the pressures we are under. He not only knows, He sees and hears. Such love. 

The second half compounds on God’s love: He sustains us. Because of all the emotional weight David was bearing I believe the only reason David was able to awaken again is because he poured himself out to God the day before – in tears and in praises.

This is such a good practice. I easily get filled with the weighty yucky stuff of this world – and I am regularly finding out how easy it can be to let God carry my burdens by crying out and by praising Him. The more I take time to Selah and understand God’s love for me, the more obediently I pour out myself to Him. I want to be sustained. I want restful sleep.

At times, I also want revenge for my pain. Verses 6,7 truly speak to that emotion. David embraces God’s command to not fear. Great assurance. I do love the zeal of verse 7. David cheers God on to arise, deliver him, strike his enemies in the jaw, and break their teeth! Great deliverance. David is a wonderful representation of how to lament, express, and seek God. This short psalm literally packs a punch – and I always feel good after reading it. Great relief. 

We are God’s children and He will defend. We are God’s creation and He will strengthen our skills to sing a new song (Ps. 33:3 NKJV). 

Dear Readers, my challenge to you is to write out your song. Song of Lament. Song of Praise. Song of Deliverance. Seek inspiration from David and strength from our Sovereign God. Allow our Almighty, Compassionate Lord and Savior to awaken your heart strings. And please share it – so we can rejoice or weep along with you (Romans 12:15).