Revival

Collin Hansen, author of "Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey With the New Calvinists", describes on the very last page of the book what he sees happening in American churches. It's really encouraging, especially from the perspective of one of those "new Calvinists." I love what I see God doing across the country in my generation. Here's how Collin Hansen sees it:

"Hunger for God's Word. Passion for evangelism. Zeal for holiness. That's not a revival of Calvinism. That's a revival."

O God the Holy Spirit

This is a new hymn written by David Ward from over at ReformedPraise.org (which is a GREAT site, I highly recommend it!).  It's based on the prayer, "The Spirit's Work" from The Valley of Vision.  It's a wonderful song that celebrates the Spirit's work in giving us peace, assurance in the cross, and a soul-satisfying vision of Christ.  Click here to go over to Reformed Praise and listen to the song or download the mp3, chord chart, or lead sheet.


O God the Holy Spirit
Eternal One of Three
My comforter and teacher,
Be merciful to me.
You hovered over chaos
The land and sea to part;
So manifest Your power
To calm my restless heart.

O God the Holy Spirit
Direct me to the cross
Where I can see the suffering
My waywardness has cost
In Jesus' death please show me
The power of my sin
And by His life convince me
This battle He will win

O God the Holy Spirit
Put Jesus on display:
Remind me how my Savior
Took all my guilt away.
My sins were all forgiven
And satisfaction made;
Atonement was completed,
My captive soul was saved.

O God the Holy Spirit
Come deepen and impart
These saving, loving lessons
Upon my desperate heart
That I might loathe my evil
And flee from Satan's snares
Then run to my Redeemer
And cast on Him my cares

My Own Valley of Trouble

I'm still pondering the implications of the connections between the Valley of Achor in Joshua 7 and the Valley of Achor in Hosea 2 (see my previous post, "The Valley of Trouble."). I'm so grateful for seeing this glorious hope this morning. My friend Julie had simply made a remark about the sobering punishment for sin in Joshua 7, and the Holy Spirit connected it like a lightning bolt to Hosea 2 in my heart, and I've been awash in the revelation of mercy ever since.

I've been in "the valley of trouble" the last couple weeks. It's largely been an internal struggle, probably hidden from everyone except those closest to me, but it has been very hard. I'm still dealing with the fallout of my senior seminar class on the New Perspective on Paul from last semester, and feverishly working and praying to reestablish the precious truth of justification that somehow got dislodged in my heart. On top of that, as the job market has continued to deteriorate and my job prospects for next year have remained bleak, I've been struggling with doubt and fear and worry about the future. That's a very unusual struggle for me (not because of any particular godliness, but just because I'm generally a laid back dude), and it demonstrates the depth of the weakness that I'm dealing with in my heart. Those two two trials cascading through my life culminated last night with a heart-wrenching argument with my fiancee. So to put it mildly, I was really hurting this morning.

And that's why this connection has been so sweet to see. I'm right smack dab in the middle of my own valley of trouble, much of it brought about by my own sin (just like Achan), and there was not a whole lot of hope to be seen this morning. But the Holy Spirit came blasting into the darkness with this revelation this morning: God transforms the valley of trouble into the door of hope. It was precious, much needed encouragement.

And then, a few minutes after God revealed from His Word that He remakes the valley of trouble into the door of hope, He revealed that in my life. An email came from the Christian school that I had applied to work at but hadn't heard from in over a month-- saying that positions were open and that they wanted to set up an interview. Right in the middle of the Student Union, I sat at my table and cried. God had just opened a door of hope in my valley of trouble. I'm so thankful for His grace.

The Valley of Trouble

In Joshua 7, the story of Achan is a cautionary tale about the consequences of sin.  Even though God commanded the Israelites to destroy every single thing in Jericho, Achan stole some of the silver and gold.  God punished the Israelites by giving them defeat at the hand of their enemies, and when it was found out that Achan was to blame, the consequences for him were even more severe:

"And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had.  And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor... and all Israel stoned him with stones.  They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones... Therefore to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor."

"Achor" means trouble.  They named the valley that because, as verse 25 says, Achan had brought trouble on them, and now God brought trouble back to Achan.  At first glance this seems like a very sobering story, and in many ways it is.  But God is not done with the Valley of Achor.  Hosea 2 describes God's ultimate plan for the valley of trouble:

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
And there I will give her her vineyards,
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope."

Isn't it just like God, to take the place where sin brought defeat and judgment and destruction, and turn that very place into a door of hope?  God is always turning the valley of trouble into a door of hope.  He did it with Achor, bringing hope out of trouble.  And we see it most clearly at the cross, where evil was subverted and destroyed and made to serve the infinitely good purpose of bringing many sons to glory.  John Piper writes, "At the all-important pivot of human history, the worst sin ever committed served to show the greatest glory of Christ and obtain the sin-conquering gift of God's grace.  God did not just overcome evil at the cross.  He made evil serve the overcoming of evil.  He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil."  This is the ultimate message of the Valley of Achor.

And I know that in my life, God frequently makes the valley the place of greatest fruitfulness.  Often, I think, He brings us into the valley of trouble for the express purpose of demonstrating that He is the One who brings hope from trouble and mercy from sin.

A Wedding Update

Sarah and I now have a nifty little wedding website for our friends and family.  I'm pretty excited about it.
Check it out:
www.theknot.com/ourwedding/sarahgoedeke&brendanbeale