SELAH I

Hillsong Young & Free's “SELAH I” opens by reciting scripture before a note of melody arrives: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” The words are spoken together, in the King James wording, and repeated once as if the congregation is being taught to say them back. Selah is the old psalm-margin word for a pause, and here the pause comes first.

When the song itself starts, it is a quiet confession. “Here I stand before You now / As honestly as I know how,” the singer says, then adds “Regardless of the things I've done,” which admits a past without dwelling on it. The turn comes in the last two lines, where “My hope is found in perfect love” becomes “My hope is found in Your open arms,” a move from an idea of love to a picture of someone waiting.

John 3:16 is the passage read at the start, and the track places it ahead of the verse so everything after is heard as a reply to it. The piece is short and works as an introduction to the worship that follows on the album.