A door of hope

Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.  Hosea 2:14

The story isn’t over. Yes, Israel has acted like an unfaithful wife in its relationship with God. Yes, God has decided to take away all that Israel has to teach His people to appreciate what they have and where it comes from.

But that is not the end. That is never the end. God intends to ‘allure’ His people back. ‘Allure’, not a word I would normally associate with God. It’s funny, I got some perfume for my birthday last week – ‘Allure’ by Chanel – and I looked up what the word meant then. As a verb, it means powerfully attract or charm. Tempt, entice, captivate, draw, beguile, bewitch, enchant, win over. As I said, not a word I would normally associate with God.

But doesn’t this demonstrate the depth of His love for His people? That after all that has gone before, He still wants them back. He’s still willing to do what it takes to draw them back into relationship with Him. At this time, He will speak tenderly to His people. He loves them. He’s always loved them. No more recriminations. No piling on the guilt. No going over and over the mistakes made. No dwelling on the past. He is ready to move on. He is ready to restore and renew the promises made between God and His people.

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. Hosea 2:15

There is restoration. There is hope. There is always hope.

This phrase about the Valley of Achor becoming a door of hope probably means nothing to us, but the people Hosea was addressing would have been fully aware of what he was talking about. As a prophet, Hosea often refers to events from their past to illuminate the future.

The Valley of Achor was a notable low point in the journey of the Israelites towards the Promised Land. After the capture of Jericho by Joshua, the people tried to press up through the valley that led from the plain of Jordan to the highlands of Canaan. One individual, Achan, who in his greed broke God’s laws, drew down shame and punishment on the Israelite camp. From that time, that rugged valley was named the Valley of Achor for the defeat and sharp act of justice that took place there, for Achor means trouble.

God has not forgotten all the mistakes and wrongdoings of the the past, but He is able and willing to transform all of those moments into doors of hope. Disasters will make a way for hope to come again. The Valley of Achor is gloomy, damp, barren and yet there is a light at the end of this natural tunnel of overhanging rocks.

In all our screw ups and spectacular failures, all the decisions we make that rob our lives of light, all of these can be turned into opportunities to let the light of God’s hope pour in. It all depends on how we choose to respond in these defining moments.

If we are to discover a hope that grows out of our mess, then it has to be because our mess drives us toward God. We can choose to stand before God in the light and face up to what we’ve done or we can run and hide and distract ourselves and pretend it never happened.

I watch ‘Vampire Diaries’ and there’s an interesting analogy I want to share here. In ‘Vampire Diaries’, the vampires have a humanity switch. They have the ability to flick this switch and turn their humanity off. But once this is done, it’s extremely hard to come back from. In this state, they do terrible, terrible things and yet feel no remorse. They become cut off from all those they love. They don’t care about them any more. Their loved ones still love them and want to draw them back, want them to turn their humanity back on But in doing that, they will have to face up to all that they have done. They’ll have to feel the weight of guilt and shame. They’ll have to apologise and make up for what they’ve done. And that’s why it’s so hard to come back from. That’s why switching their humanity back in is so hard. To restore relationship with those they love is going to be really tough for a while. They’s be making themselves vulnerable, they’ll be making themselves feel, they’ll be relying on the mercy of others.

Do you see where I’m going? Walking towards that door of hope is hard because it takes trust. Walking into the light will expose all that we have done, all that we try so hard to hide.

It’s a choice. We can choose to stay stuck in the dark, dangerous valley or we can head towards the door of hope. Because that door of hope is there for every single one of us, because God loves us. God loves every single one of us.

His love underpins the whole span of history. Just think about that love. That love was there at the start and will be there at the end. Everything in the story of the universe is to be seen in the context of that love.

I just want to finish with this quote that popped up in my Facebook feed this morning. It rounds off what I;ve been saying today nicely.