Written by: Aaron Tate
Appears on: My Calm//Your Storm, Self Titled, Guild 2
Lyrics:
You say you want a living sacrifice
Well I am a burnt offering
Crawling off the altar and
Back in to the fire
And with my smoke-filled lungs
I cry out for freedom
While locking and chaining myself
To my rotting desires
And I hate the stench,
But I swallow the key
And with it stuck in my throat
Can you hear me, can you hear me
I’m coming home, I’m coming home
I’m coming home, I’m coming home,
but I’m still a long way off
I am shelled-shocked, and I have walked
Through the trenches full of tears
With the mortars of memory
Exploding in my burning ears
You stripped the trees of Lebanon
And now you’re stripping me
Of the bark of false morality
And the bite of selfish greed
Can you hear me?
Will you run ot me?
Will you come to me?
Will you meet me, will you greet me
Will you drag me home ’cause I’m still a long way off
See also: MusicBrainz.
This song is about the constant struggle with sin that we will face until we “come home” to heaven. It’s about the feelings of hypocrisy that come with striving for holiness yet willingly choosing sin in moments of weakness. It also seems to draw on imagery in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15).
“I cry out for freedom while locking and chaining myself to my rotting desires”…is an illustration of how even though he longs to be free from sin, he is still the one who refuses to let go of it.
Same idea in the line “And I hate the stench, but I swallow the key.”, where he says that even though he can’t stand the “stench” of his own sin, he has “swallowed the key” that he used to lock himself to his “rotting desires” so that he”ll never be free from them until he arrives “home”.
“You’ve stripped the trees of Lebanon, and now you’re stripping me” might refer to Jeremiah 22:7 where God says he will allow other nations to come into Judah and cut down their “choicest cedars” because of their disobedience.
“Will you come to me? Will you run to me? Will you meet me? Will you greet me…”, along with the chorus “I’m coming home”, seem to be consistent with ideas from the prodigal son parable found in Luke 15.