My Song

exodus- resurrection

genesis (garden of Eden)- revelation (new heaven and new earth)

tower of babel- Pentecost

valley of Achor- - door of hopes as the day they came out of Egypt.

An exodus of my heart.

 

When we are born we receive the song of life. He sings a song over us declaring "this is who you are!" This is your song! The song that was sang over me from creation. 

In Zephaniah 3:17- The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save, He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. 

 

When in trauma, we cant hear that song. We can not feel His delight, we are restless and we can not receive that blessing of His calming Presence. 

We hear the lies of Satan, our mind is so foggy- we can not remember things and have a spirit of confusion instead of a spirit of truth. Our hope is shattered. The unrelenting disappointment leaves us heartsick (Prov. 13:12) The suddenness and unpredictability of trauma, affects our rhythm, harmony, form and timing- it literally affects our song. 

Trauma affects our ability to flow in the "Kairos" timing of the Lord. I have seen when I have missed opportunities or open doors, we have a sense we are half a step off, sluggish fatigued and unable to find the rhythm of life. We are unable to rest. 

 

But He speaks gently to us, "Come get away with me, and you'll recover your life. Ill show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me- watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace."

(Matthew 11: 28-29) 

 

 

And He is the one that does this for us in a literal sense. The thing that seemed so big and brought so much fear. No longer provokes such emotional turmoil. When I thought it would be so hard to have this meeting or to ask for help, I am able to do so in "unforced rhythms of grace." He doesn't just remove the side effects of trauma, he removes the trauma. 

 

When you feel stuck in a unrelenting cycle of sin, depression and shame. He is such a good God that he has shown us in the bible that He is a God of restoration, order and hope. 

 

The book of Isaiah and Hosea speak of the Valley of Achor as the Valley of trouble for a door of hope as a way of describing the redemption promised by God.

 

When the Israelites finally were able to enter the Promise Land and finished a huge victory at Jericho. 

 

Joshua 7. Achan was an Israelite who fought the battle of Jericho with Joshua. God had commanded the Israelites to destroy the entire city of Jericho because of its great sin. Only Rahab the harlot and her household were spared because she had hidden the Israelite spies (Joshua 6:17). God further commanded that, unlike most victories when soldiers were allowed to take the spoils, the Israelites were to take nothing from Jericho. Everything in it was “accursed” or “devoted to destruction.” God warned that anyone taking spoils from Jericho would “make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it” (Joshua 6:18-19). The Israelites obeyed, except for Achan, who stole a beautiful robe and some gold and silver and hid these things in his tent. (the process of exposing the sin is so interesting too!)

 

This was the first sin in the Promise Land and the Lord's wrath was evident. Achan and all his family was killed. This shows how our sin so greatly affects our family and the church (because of Achan's sin, all of the Isrealities lost the battle of Ai). There was great mourning and devistation in the Valley of Achor. 

 

Once Achan’s sin had been dealt with, the Lord turned from His anger, and the people were restored to His favor. Later, the Valley of Achor, the scene of Israel’s trouble, is called “a door of hope” to the future restored nation: “There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing, as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt” (Hosea 2:15).

 

He restores our song, we are able to find rhythm, clarity, truth, discipline, union with God. We are able to hope, dream, and experience God again.

 

Psalm 126:

When the Lord restored the fortunes of[a] Zion,
    we were like those who dreamed.[b]
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
    our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are filled with joy.

4 Restore our fortunes,[c] Lord,
    like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow with tears
    will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
    carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
    carrying sheaves with them.

 I have found great freedom in the exodus of my heart and the return of my song. The song that is sang over me, "This is who you are, and with you I am well pleased!" I found that redemption is not the absence of anxiety, etc., but a restoration a life with Him, communion with Him, and union with Him. I am able to experience Him and the blessings of a life in rhythm with Him. 

Path to Life:

“Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit. For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.’” With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’ For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.” I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God. For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord. “Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities. How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth: a woman encircles a man.” Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: “‘The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!’ And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name: “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.” “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.””

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭2‬-‭6‬, ‭9‬-‭12‬, ‭14‬, ‭18‬-‭25‬, ‭28‬, ‭33‬, ‭35‬-‭36‬, ‭38‬, ‭40‬ ‭ESV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/59/jer.31.2-40.ESV