So Come

Israel Houghton's “So Come” is a worship song that begins by listing what God has done. He has taken the precious from the worthless and given beauty for ashes and love for hate. He has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong and the foolish things to shame the wise.

The next lines describe God as help to the helpless, strength to the stranger and a father to the child who is left alone. The invitation follows, drawn from Isaiah: the thirsty are invited to come to the water, and those who have no money to come and buy. The chorus is a short, repeated call to come. The second half turns to prophecy. Behold the days are coming, the Lord has promised, when the plowman will overtake the reaper and hearts will be the threshing floor. The move of God the people cried out for will surely come, shaking the heavens and filling his house with glory. The shame of the outcast will turn into praise. The ending images say that all creation groans and waits for the Spirit and the Bride to say the words God has longed to hear. The song joins several biblical passages into one prayer for revival. Houghton builds it with a choir and slow crescendos, and it suits a service of prayer where a church is asking for God to move.

Beauty for ashes is Isaiah 61:3. God choosing the weak is 1 Corinthians 1:27, and the invitation to the thirsty is Isaiah 55:1.