The Shift (Selah)
Oil painting of David playing the harp before the Lord in Worship.
The Harp in the Cave
Long before he wore a crown, David held a harp.
We often picture him as the giant-slayer or the warrior-king, but his first and most enduring role was that of a musician-theologian. In the pastures of Bethlehem and the caves of Adullam, David didn't just pray; he sang. And he didn't just sing; he paused.
If you look closely at the Psalms, you will see a small, mysterious Hebrew word scattered throughout the text: Selah.
It appears 71 times in the Psalms. It sits at the edge of verses like a musical rest, interrupting the flow of words. Scholars often trace the word back to a root meaning 'to suspend' or 'to weigh.' Think of it as a balance scale. You sing a truth about God, and then you hit Selah—a suspension of the song that forces you to weigh the reality of what you just declared. It prevents us from singing empty words. It is a built-in mechanism to ensure the praise does not outpace the heart.
It was a signal to the choir director to let the voices fade while the instruments swelled. It was a built-in mechanism to ensure that the praise did not outpace the heart. David understood that when we encounter a truth about God that is too vast to comprehend, we don’t need more words. We need a moment to let the weight of it sink in.
We need a Selah.
The Noise of the New
Somewhere along the way, we lost the art of the pause.
We live in a world that fears silence. We consume sermons, podcasts, and worship songs at double speed. We treat the Bible like a textbook to be scanned rather than a meal to be savored.
I have felt this drift in my own spirit. For the last three years, Lyric and Letter has been dedicated to analyzing the lyrics of modern worship songs. We have fact-checked, dissected, and studied. But recently, I hit a wall. I realized I was becoming an expert at analyzing the words about God, while starving for the silence with God.
I found myself tired of the "surfacy" nature of the industry—songs that say the same thing over and over, just with a different beat. My heart was hungry for the "deep calling unto deep" (Psalm 42:7). I realized we don’t need to reverse-engineer another radio hit; we need to return to the original model.
Returning to the Ancient Path
David’s model of worship was simple, yet profound. It wasn't just emotion, and it wasn't just theology. It was both, held together by the music.
The Lyric (The Truth): David would sing the raw, unedited reality of God’s character.
The Selah (The Processing): He would create space—musical space—for that truth to rewrite his reality.
When David played for King Saul, he didn’t just offer a distraction; he offered a spiritual realignment. The music pushed back the darkness so the light could enter (1 Samuel 16:23).
This year, Lyric and Letter is returning to that ancient path.
We are shifting our focus from critiquing the modern worship industry to cultivating a sanctuary for your study. We are moving from talking about worship to creating an atmosphere for it.
The Lyric is His Word. It is the unshakeable foundation. The Letter is our study. It is the inductive work of digging into the text. The Music is the Selah. It is the space where worship meets the Word.
A Seat at the Quiet Table
Everything starts at what I call "The Quiet Table."
This is my personal study space—a place where I stream live, opening the Bible to dig for those deep, theological connections without a script or a schedule. It is where the "Letter" comes alive. I invite you to join me there, to see the messy, beautiful work of inductive study in real-time, accompanied by the ambient music I write to keep my own heart focused.
The New Sound of the Podcast
Then, I take the richest truths from those study sessions and craft them into the new Season 4 podcast episodes.
But these won't be just another talk. I am composing custom Ambient Worship tracks for every single episode—music designed specifically to reflect the text we are studying.
We will open the Word, find the truth, and then I will give you a "Selah moment"—a guided pause with original music to let that truth sink deep into your spirit.
Watch the Announcement
I explain the full vision for this shift—and why I had to walk away from the "industry" to find the "sanctuary"—in this video below.
The Shepherd knew that the soul needs silence to grow. The table is set. The harp is tuned. Let’s learn to pause together.
