Come and See

I was reminded today again how God doesn't expect us, never asks us, to be a witness to something we haven't seen, experienced. I was reading Matthew 14, where Peter walks on the water. And what caught my attention is that first Peter demanded that Jesus prove himself by letting him walk on water. When that happened, all the others, and probably Peter himself, said, "Truly you are the Son of God." They said this, indeed only could say this, after they had seen something. There are many passages that support this notion. I quickly thought of Andrew calling Peter and Philip with the words, "Come, and see." He didn't begin with "here's what I found and here's what I think", instead, it was a simple invitation for them to see for themselves who Jesus was. I find that interesting. Also 1 John begins with phrases like, "What we have seen, what we have touched with out hands, what we have heard." Very sensory descriptors used to validate the message. In essence, he is saying, "I am only telling you what I saw and heard myself. Nothing more, nothing less." And this makes sense. For what is a witness in the regular sense, if not one who testifies to what they have seen or heard for themselves, first hand? And that's the key, it must be first hand. And this got me thinking that maybe this is part of the reason why "witnessing", or evangelism, often falls flat, and why so many are so afraid. They don't know what to say because they haven't seen anything. They are trying to convince someone else to believe something they personally haven't experienced. They are trying to introduce you to someone they don't really know all that well. Because when you've seen something, it really isn't all that hard to tell someone else. You know you saw it, you just know. And there's no fear, at least not usually. But when you're only going off of what someone told you you should be doing and believing, it's really hard to be persuasive, bold, courageous. Job said when he met God face to face, "I have heard of you with my ears, but now I see you with my eyes. I repent in dust and ashes." The point here is that something changed when Job saw God. It wasn't enough just to hear about him, once he saw him, things changed. And maybe that's a lot of people today. They've definitely heard quite a bit about God, about Jesus, about this whole Christian thing, but they've never seen anything. And so nothing changes. The other thing with witnesses is that if someone knows what they've saw, they don't mind letting others see for themselves as well. It's like Andrew saying, "Come, and see." Same here, it's an invitation to check things out for yourself. An honest witness will never try to hide that, because there is nothing to hide. Instead, you are free to see for yourself. If you don't see the same thing, then obviously something is wrong. And what's wrong: either there's nothing to see or the person looking is blind. Really doesn't help to ask a blind woman to check something out for herself, does it? No matter how much you insist, "There it is," and try to describe whatever it is, she won't ever see it. Not that she doesn't want to, not that she's not trying, but simply because she can't. She happens to be blind. And that's what we see in the Peter walking on water story. They all knew it was Jesus walking towards them, or should have, at least. He told them. But it was only after the incident with Peter, after they had seen, did they declare what was already obvious. They saw. You ever look for something that ends up being right in front of your face? Or better yet, ever point something out to someone that they saw all along? I've done that. Feel kind of stupid, eh? Well, this is how it is. It was there all along, you just didn't see it. And once you do, you end up stating what is rather obvious to everyone else in the car but you. It's the same with God. It's not that he's hiding; it's not that he's not doing anything. It's just that we don't see. We simply don't see. So how do we fix that. Well, there's another passage that says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." That's really all that needs to happen. We must taste, we must see, that he is good. And we definitely can't do it on our own, the blind man can't fix his vision on his own, but it needs to happen nonetheless. We need our eyes pried open just a bit so we can get a glimpse. "Ah, there it is. I see it. It's right there." That's what changes us. Indeed, the only thing that can. Some of us shy away from the visible, external stuff, arguing that we live by faith, right?, stuff we can't see. Sure, I'm all there. It is by faith. We see only by faith. But that faith helps us see things in the external, visible world that we never saw before. You see, stuff around us stays the same, it's just we see differently. So let us not perhaps seek primarily the external, visible signs to confirm our faith, but let us welcome them when they come. It took a man to walk on water to get these guys to see, it may take something greater to wake some of us heavier sleepers. Expect it. One cannot see for another. One cannot yell long enough, loud enough, or often enough to get someone to see what they simply can't. One can only say, "Come, and see." And when we do see, how beautiful is the sight. How clear, how obvious, everything becomes. Life gets rather bumpy with your eyes closed. And it's all rather "well, of course" when you see. It really is. So no need for fancy arguments, clever phrases, or backed-in-a-corner interrogations. Just one guy telling another guy what he's seen, what he's heard. It might look like he's just raving about his flat screen or 22 inchers with spinners. Or it's one girl telling another what she's seen, what she's felt. You might think she just met Justin Beiber or got her nails done, just by looking. But that's not it. It's something bigger. Something real. Something more permanent. That's why she can't stop talking. That's why her hands keep moving. Or it's a man sitting with his daughter, crying. This seems different. It might look sad and hopeless. But it's not. No, he's not waving his arms. No, he's not excitedly radiating. No, he's just quietly whispering, "Come, and see. See what you've always longed for but never dared to even dream. See what you feel should be there but never isn't. Come, see it for yourself. You might be surprised. You just might find the only one you've been looking for, the only one you've ever needed."

Have you need not seen? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator the earth. He does not faint or grow tired; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weary, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Teenagers faint and get tired, young men fall exhausted; but they who wait for, hope and trust in, the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and get tired; they will walk and not faint.