Lyrics
Lord, we stand in the shallows of all you have given,
Grateful for mercy yet hungry for more,
For the power of grace to go out from this place
To the ends of the earth.
We have praised you with passion and worshipped in wonder,
Thrilled by Your Spirit and fed by Your word.
Now to fully delight in the riches of Christ
We must go to the world.
For you live in the streets of the city,
You stand with the weak and the needy,
You walk with homeless and hungry and poor.
And your hands are the hands I am lifting,
Your voice is the life I am living;
Your love longs to meet them, but how will they know,
Unless I am willing to go?
Lord, where are you hungry and where are you thirsty,
Naked, imprisoned, with no one to care?
To give of our best to the poor and oppressed
Is to give back to You.
So cause us to see with the eyes of the Saviour,
Give us a heart that will love as you love;
Courageous compassion in words and in action
Brings hope to the world.
For You live…
That you live in the streets of the city,
You stand with the weak and the needy
You walk with homeless and hungry and poor.
And your hands are the hands I am lifting,
Your voice is the life I am living,
Without us there’s no other way they will know,
So send me, I’m ready to go.
An exhortation based on Matthew 25 to meet Christ among the poorest in our society
I remember some years ago hearing Jackie Pullinger speak at an event at which I was leading. I had a song in mind to close the meeting (I won’t mention which one it was – not one of mine!), when to my astonishment in her talk she referred to the song – and how much she hated it! (Needless to say I decided not to use it…)
Her problem with it was that it encouraged us to meet with God and be filled up and energized in order to go out and reach the lost. But in her experience you meet with Him by going out – He’s there in the streets, already alongside those who need to be reached. So if you want more of God, to get to know Him better, get out and meet Him there!
This song follows that way of thinking. We’ve spent enough time getting ready and being ‘filled up’ with our meetings and our songs. God is waiting for us to meet Him in the streets, to be His hands and feet alongside the homeless and hungry and poor, the “least of these” as Jesus calls them. And until we do that we will never be truly enjoying the riches of knowing Christ.