SELAH: The Psalms Project

SELAH is a project that I felt led to do a couple years ago. The project itself never caught on with artists. Not sure why.

It's pretty simple and straight forward. Artists are encouraged to choose a Psalm. And then illustrate it.

The first SELAH entry came from me. Mostly because I was the first person to actually know about the project and I wanted to have an example for people. It was Psalm 40, a favorite of mine, and you can read it HERE.

I also wanted to make sure people understood what mattered most for this project was the heart, more so than the art.

For me, I drew that Psalm 40 when I was going through a very difficult time in my life. Rather, I was just coming out of one. The panel where the hand has lifted the shaggy guy halfway out of the mud -- that's where I was in my life. And drawing that comic, I was able to look back at where I was and look forward to the promise of what was to come. It was cathartic in some ways and inspired hope for me in other ways.

The challenge is for artists to find a Psalm that connects with them. And then illustrate that connection. The main idea is that I wanted this to be a corporate act of worship. Comic book worship. Straight from the Psalms. Why should musicians get all the fun!?! They get to write songs and sing the Psalms! This is the artistic version of that.

For more information, check out the official SELAH website.

Psalm 34:3. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.

I don't know how many people even read this blog, but I would like to encourage those of you who do read this blog and have even the slightest bit of artistic talent to join us in this project.

~ Ben