The Valley of Trouble
In The Valley • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Key idea: God can turn a valley of trouble into a door of hope.
To set up our core scripture today I need to share what happens to Hosea. No easy way to say this so I'll just say it the way that Scripture says it half a dozen times. Hosea's, wife is a harlot. She sells herself to someone else. It breaks Hosea's heart, but God tells him to redeem her, to buy her back.
It's a picture of Israel's unfaithfulness to God. It's a picture of God's relentless pursuit of his people. He is the God of second chances and third and fourth, and thousandth.
God is not capable of giving up on you and me because it is not in his nature. Listen, you can turn your back on God, His goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. If you turn around you're going to see a heavenly father with his arms wide open.
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
(Bulletin & Slide)
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
Valley of Achor
The valley of Achor literally means “the valley of trouble.” It refers to the incident recorded in Joshua 7. When the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, they faced three major enemies in the center of that land who had to be conquered first so that Joshua could divide the enemy and then concentrate on taking one section at a time.
The first enemy was Jericho; God got the victory for them at Jericho. Next they made an attack upon Ai, and they thought it would be an easy victory because Ai was a small city.
Joshua was defeated at Ai, but a great lesson was learned there. God had instructed the men not to take any of the unclean things at the destruction of Jericho, but one man disobeyed. As a result, the army suffered a great defeat at Ai.
Joshua went down upon his face and cried out to God. He was complaining to the Lord. The Lord said to him, “Get up off your face. Israel has sinned. You must deal with the sin before you can have a victory.”
So they had to find the one who had sinned and found him to be Achan. Achan after Jericho was destroyed sees a beautiful robe from Babylon, and he's got to have it. And while he's at it, he takes 200 shekels of silver, a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, and he buries them beneath his tent.
So much trouble can come because of the things that we bury beneath our tents.
Achan and his property were taken to the Valley of Achor where they were destroyed and buried. From then on it was victory for Israel under General Joshua.
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
going to allure her
God doesn’t try to force His people to love him. Instead, He “allures” (woos) them as a lover woos his beloved, seeking her hand in marriage. I am going to win her over.
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her
Wilderness: Open and an exposed desert. There is no where to hide.
Speak tenderly: Kindly and genitally.
When was a time when someone was exposed with no where to hide and Jesus spoke tenderly.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
You don’t get more exposed than this.
5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
The penalty of her sin was death.
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
Only Jesus was left and the women still there exposed.
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
How tender is that?
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
I will give her back her vineyards
Vineyards meant prosperity / Their dignity.
“I will give” (v. 15) as the Lord guarantees a return to their land and a restoration of their prosperity.
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope
How does Jesus make the valley of trouble the valley of sin a door of hope?
27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
Why was Jesus troubled? He was going to take on all of humanities sin.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Making our Valley of Trouble to a door of hope.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
Door - The door of hope
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
There she will respond
Israels, the Valley of Achor (“trouble”) would be erased from their minds. The valley would become a “door of hope” through which Israel would enter into a new life.
The same is for us if we put our faith and hope in Jesus we to will enter into a new life.
God is not capable of giving up on you and me because it is not in his nature. Listen, you can turn your back on God, His goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. If you turn around you're going to see a heavenly father with his arms wide open.
There is no one to far gone that God can’t bring hope and a new life.
Story: From drug addict who lost it all. To sober Mom who found Jesus and turned in all around.