Selah – Wonderful, Merciful Savior

Contemporary Christian trio Selah started in 1997 as a cover band, eventually releasing their music in 1999.  Their name derives from the word “Selah” that appears in the Psalms with an unknown etymology.  They released twelve albums, including:

• Be Still My Soul (1999)
• Press On (2001)
• Rose of Bethlehem (2002)
• Hiding Place (2004)
• Greatest Hymns (2005)
• Bless the Broken Road: The Duets Album (2006)
• You Deliver Me (2009)
• Hope of the Broken World (2011)
• You Amaze Us (2014)
• Unbreakable (2017)
• Firm Foundation (2019)
• Step Into My Story (2020)

Selah won seven Dove awards, including Inspirational Album of the Year (2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, and 2012), Traditional Recorded Gospel Song (2002), and Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year (2012).

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Selah-wonderful-merciful-saviour-lyrics.

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1. What message does the song communicate?

Although the word “Jesus” is not explicitly used, we know it is Him because the song states that He is:

• Magnificant
• Forgiving
• Liberator
• Valuable
• Deliverer
• Companion
• The slain lamb
• Guide
• Consolant
• Sustainer
• Praiseworthy
• Healer
• Gracious
• Powerful
• Eternal
• Trustworthy

In addition, we hunger for His Holy Spirit and prostrate ourselves before Him, Yielding to His ways and worshipping Him.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

All lyrics are in agreement with God’s inspired Word.

This song does not contain a Verse/Bridge structure.  However, Chorus is named.  Therefore, I assigned stanzas to non-named paragraphs.

[Stanza 1]

Line 1: The Savior, who we understand as Jesus (Isaiah 45:21-22, Hosea 13:4, Luke 1:47, Luke 2:11, Acts 13:23, 1 Timothy 2:3, Titus 2:13-14, and 1 John 4:14), is wonderful (1 Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 27:4, and Psalm 29:2) and merciful (Matthew 27:27-30, Matthew 27:39-44, Mark 14:65, Mark 15:16-19, Mark 15:29-32, Luke 23:11, Luke 23:39, and John 19:3).

Line 2: He is precious (Philippians 3:8-10), redeems (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, 1 Corinthians 6:20, Hebrews 5:9, Hebrews 9:28, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:9, and 1 John 2:2 ) and is our friend (John 15:14-16).  Let the reader understand that His friendship requires obedience on our part.

Lines 3 and 4: He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Isaiah 53:7, John 1:29, John 1:36, Acts 8:32, 1 Peter 1:19, Revelation 5:6-8, Revelation 5:12-13, Revelation 6:1, Revelation 7:9-17, Revelation 12:11, Revelation 13:8, Revelation 14:1-10, Revelation 15:3, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:7-9, and Revelation 21:9).

Line 4: Essentially repeats line 3, adding a call to Casper the friendly ghost.

[Stanza 2]

Line 1: He councils (Psalm 32:8, Psalm 37:23-24, Psalm 73:23-24, Psalm 119:105, Isaiah 30:21, Isaiah 48:17, Isaiah 58:11, Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 16:9, Proverbs 20:24, Psalm 25:4-9, Psalm 25:9-10, Luke 1:78-79, John 14:26, John 16:13, and Romans 8:14), comforts (Psalm 23:4, Psalm 71:21, Psalm 119:50-52, Psalm 119:76, Psalm 119:82, Isaiah 51:3, Isaiah 57:18, Isaiah 61:2, Isaiah 66:13, Zechariah 1:17, Matthew 5:4, Matthew 11:28-30, and 2 Corinthians 1:3-7), and keeps (John 6:39, John 17:12, and John 18:9).

Line 2: That is, the Holy Spirit living inside us (Acts 6:5, Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:16-19, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 5:18, and 2 Timothy 1:14).

Lines 3 and 4: He is our hope amid rebellion (Matthew 11:28-30, Romans 5:1-8, Romans 8:24-39, Romans 15:13, 1 Corinthians 15:54-58, and 1 Peter 1:3-6).

Line 5: Follows the same format at Stanza 1, line 5.

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: We worship Him (Matthew 2:11, Matthew 14:33, Matthew 21:9, Matthew 28:8-9, Matthew 28:16-17, Luke 24:50-53, John 12:13, and John 20:28).

Line 3: He heals (Matthew 8:3, Matthew 9:29-30, Matthew 20:34, Mark 1:41-42, Mark 8:22-25, Luke 5:13, Luke 7:14-15, and Luke 22:51) and is gracious (Luke 18:9-14, Acts 13:39, Romans 3:20-30, Romans 4:1-7, Romans 8:3, Romans 9:16, Romans 9:31-32, Romans 11:6, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:10-12, Galatians 3:21, Galatians 5:2-4, Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 3:3-9, 2 Timothy 1:9, Hebrews 6:1-2, and James 2:10-11).

Line 4: We want Him more than anything else (Philippians 3:8-10).

Line 5: Follows the same format at Stanza 1, line 5.

[Stanza 3]

Line 1: He is almighty (see 48 references in the Old Testament and 10 in the New Testament) and infinite (Deuteronomy 33:27, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Job 36:26, Psalm 48:14, Psalm 90:2-4, Psalm 102:12, Psalm 102:26-27, Proverbs 8:23, Isaiah 40:28, Isaiah 41:4, Habakkuk 1:12, John 17:5, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians 1:4, Hebrews 1:11-12, 1 Peter 1:20, 2 Peter 3:8, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 11:17, and Revelation 22:13).

Line 2: He is faithful (see faithful references).

Lines 3 and 4: We surrender to Him (Psalm 43:5, Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34-38, Mark 10:28, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 15:1-11, Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:7-10, and 1 Peter 5:6).

Line 5: Follows the same format at Stanza 1, line 5.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

They will know it’s about Jesus in the song’s opening lines as soon as they hear/see the word “Lamb”.  They will conclude this song is a smorgasbord of acts/attributes of Jesus.  It’s basically a list that they should easily comprehend, alongside Christians responding in worship.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus.  Section 1 contains a large collection of His works and properties, including His salvation, faithfulness, and eternality.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Selah’s Wonderful, Merciful Savior is great.  The merciful, eternal Savior, who we know as Jesus, is faithful to forgive us, we who are undeserving and depend on Him for our comfort and hope.  This glorifies Christ.  Unbelievers should understand it with relatively little difficulty.

I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Wonderful, Merciful Savior (listen to the song)

Artist: Selah

Album: Press On

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2001

Duration: 3:52

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