Come and See!
TRANSLATION
(H) For the director of the choir, a song, a psalm. (1) Shout for joy to God, all the earth! (2) Sing the glory of his name! Make his praise glorious! (3) Say to God, “How awesome (are) your works! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you. (4) All the earth worships you and sings praises to you. They shall sing praise to your name.” (Selah) (5) Come and see what God has done. He is awesome in his works toward the sons of mankind. (6) He turned the sea into dry land. They passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him. (7) He rules by his power forever. His eyes keep watch on the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. (Selah)
OBSERVATIONS
Several repetitions are found in this first segment of the psalm: “all the earth” (vss. 1 & 4), “glory...glorious” (vs. 2), and “sing” (three times in vss. 2 & 4). God’s glory, his incomparable magnificence and unsurpassed greatness, is the first reason why we should sing praise to him.
A second reason is found in two more repetitions: “awesome works” or, as some have translated it, “fearsome deeds” (vss. 3 & 5), and “power” (vss. 3 & 7). Not just the splendor of God’s person but also the greatness of his works should motivate us to prostrate ourselves before him in worship. Specifically, the psalmist cited God’s deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt and his bringing the nation safely into the Promised Land (vs. 6) as the reason for this call to universal praise.
OUTLINE
The psalmist gives us…
– general reasons for praising God. (1-4)
– specific reasons for praising God. (5-7)
IDEA STATEMENT
God’s glory and power, particularly seen in delivering Israel from Egypt, are reasons for universal praise.
APPLICATION
The invitation, actually a command, “Come and see what God has done” (vs. 5), is an exhortation that we who know and love God should have no problem obeying. With the eyes of faith we can readily see and acknowledge God’s power in creating and sustaining the universe as well as the wonders of his grace evident in the redemption accomplished by the death of Jesus. However, those who do not know God cannot obey this exhortation for the simple reason that, due to spiritual blindness, they cannot see either who God is or what he has done.
Paul explained this incapacity in these words: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:3 & 4). The only way that those who are spiritually blind can gain their sight is if the Holy Spirit lifts the veil and opens their eyes just as he did for Paul after his conversion: “Then Ananias...said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again” (Acts 9:17 & 18).
It should not surprise us that those who are not yet followers of Jesus cannot see God’s hand in creation or his work in providing redemption through Christ. For those who are spiritually blind, our prayer should be that God would open their eyes just as Paul wrote: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Only then will they be able to obey the psalmist’s command to come and see and fully appreciate what God has done.