Come and See (Psalm 66)
words and music by Sean Taylor
Come and see what the Lord has done
He is awesome in His deeds
Therefore we rejoice in Him
And in His might we live and breathe
Shout for joy to the Lord our God
Sing of the glory of His name
All the earth cries out to Him
And sings praises to His name
Come and bless the Lord, you people
He won't let us slip away
Though we walk through fire and water
He has brought us to His face
Shout for joy to the Lord our God
Sing of the glory of His name
All the earth cries out to Him
And sings praises to His name
Blessed be our God, He has not rejected us
Blessed be our God, He has not rejected us
Blessed be our God, He has not rejected us
Blessed be our God, He has not rejected us
Come and hear if you fear God
And I will tell what He has done
I cried out to Him for mercy
He heard my prayer and sent His love
Shout for joy to the Lord our God
Sing of the glory of His name
All the earth cries out to Him
And sings praises to His name
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Come and see the works of God...
But
verily God hath heard me; he hath attended
to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be
God, which
hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.
Psalm 66: 5a, 19-20 (KJV)Sometimes
we think of evangelism as an old Army recruitment poster. God is
dressed in the stars and stripes, pointing His finger at us, and asking
for a few good men and women to become soldiers of the cross. Then we
see the flowing, white beard, and we think that maybe God and Uncle Sam
aren't so different after all, at least when it comes to recruiting.
This
image shows how little we really understand God's idea of evangelism.
No matter how much we insist that it is God's work, we act as if it
were up to us, as if God were powerless to save anyone if we took the
day off. God needs us to win people to Him, we are taught, as if
without our help, His whole plan would crumble and fail. We even keep
track of how many converts we've made, displaying our numbers like
hunters display animal heads. Those numbers give us supposed measurable
quotas of how Christian we really are; they validate our ministries
(and the opposite is also true—without numbers, our ministries become
invalidated, burdens that fail to produce the proper "fruit").
Christ
had a different idea in mind. In His evangelism strategy, the power and
the credit belong somewhere other than with the workers. "If a seed
dies," He told us, "it will produce many seeds." And "when I am lifted
up, I will draw . . ."
Who
is doing the real work here? The seed, not the gardeners. Christ
invites the gardeners to get involved, but they must remember that they
are just doing the surface work—all the important stuff going on
beneath the surface is His work alone. God is not dependent on us and
our meager strategies. Even if every evangelist alive today were to
take a long vacation, God's purpose would not be disturbed one bit. He
has other mouthpieces (big fish, rocks, donkeys, and a few others in
the Bible that might surprise us).
Perhaps
a better image of evangelism would be a party invitation. If we refuse
to attend, the party will go on without us. Or we can join in the
festivities, invite others to come and see what's going on, and offer our best to the Host, trusting Him to put us to
good use.
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