“Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah” -Psalm 32:6–7
This pair of verses, called a pericope, is concluded with “Selah,” a technical term in Hebrew music and poetry meant to signal a change in the regular rendering. Though it is uncertain, it would likely signal the people to lift up their voices or the musicians to pause for reflection. Both perspectives have merit. In any case, it signals to us to give our attention.
In this pericope, David first exhorts “everyone who is godly” to pray to the Lord while there is time, while he still has an ear to hear. They should not try to wait until the calamity of their sins overtakes them like “the rush of great waters.” It is of particular note that David is speaking to those who have sinned like he did but calls them godly. This is because godliness does not mean to be without sin; it means to be God-conscious even when we have sinned. The Proverbs remind us that “for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” -Proverbs 24:16
In the second verse, David praises God for being his hiding place where he is preserved from trouble. To be surrounded by “shouts of deliverance” is to say God does not merely protect him but does so in a way that warrants jubilant songs of deliverance.