A Door of Hope
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her. I will give her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.”
Hosea 2:14-15
Have you ever thought about a door being a means of hope? In most instances a door serves to separate one area from another. To keep things in or to keep things out. In our house a door has served to hide a messy child’s room from a clean house, a room you want people to access from ones you don’t. A door of hope can be the garage door that my wife enters through after a hard day at work. Her hope when she reaches for the handle is that on the other side of that door is a clean house. My hope when I reach for the knob on the pantry door is that there is something worthwhile on the shelf inside.
My wife loves doors, especially old rustic antique ones. We have a number of decorative doors both in our house and outside as well. For the last few years it seems like each of our vacations have included treasure hunting in antique stores for you guessed it, old doors. Doors seem to always catch my wife’s eye and each time they do I am reminded that doors are very significant in the bible. It was after all Jesus Himself who said, “I Am the door.”
In the Old Testament book of Hosea in chapter 2 verse 14, there is an interesting word that catches my attention each time I read it, the word “allure”. God speaks of alluring His bride Israel back to Himself and restoring her and redeeming her after she had turned away from Him and chased after other lovers (gods). God says He “will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her.” God is saying He will allure a people who are not seeking Him but who He Himself is seeking. He will find her and allure her.
I love that word and the imagery it creates in my mind as to the lengths God will go to redeem the one He loves. In Hosea it speaks of Gomer, Hosea’s wife as she is representative of the nation of Israel, the chosen of God, and as well it speaks of you and me, loved one. God was and is alluring us, drawing us to Himself even before we were ever seeking Him. Proof, and this is no small point, God was seeking us even when we were not seeking Him! I love how it says He will speak comfort to her. Comfort, wait a second. She had committed harlotry and left God and gone after other lovers, other gods. You would think in the natural God would bring her out in the wilderness and leave her there for dead. After all, isn’t that what she deserves? Yet, we read that God is merciful, and we do well to remember mercy is only shown to sinners. God shows mercy to her and He loves her and restores her. Talk about love! Well, loved one, we are talking about God, our God!
Charles Spurgeon wrote regarding, “I will allure her”: “This is a singular kind of power: ‘I will allure her;’ not, ‘I will drive her’ not even, ‘I will draw her,’ or, ‘I will drag her;’ or, ‘I will force her.’ No, ‘I will allure her.’ It is a very remarkable word, and it teaches us that the allurement of love surpasses in power all other forces. That is how the devil ruins us; he tempts us with honeyed words, sweet utterances, with the baits of pleasure and the like; and the Lord in mercy determines that, in all truthfulness, he will outbid the devil, and he will win us to himself by fascinations, enticements, and allurements which shall be stronger than any force of resistance we may offer. This is a wonderfully precious word: ‘I will allure her.’”
Did you catch what he wrote there, “the allurement of love surpasses in power all other forces.” God’s love is alluring, when you and I finally get it, that God IS love and when we begin to comprehend God’s love for us has nothing to do with our performance in that “God doesn’t love us any more when we are ‘good’ and He doesn’t love us any less when we are ‘bad’ as it were, we are drawn to Him, or better put, “allured” to Him. How can you resist someone who doesn’t want anything from you but only for you? God doesn’t want us as slaves to serve Him, He wants us as a bride to enjoy Him.
It only gets better as you read verse 15 of chapter 2 where God says He will transform the Valley of Achor (Achor means “trouble”) into a door of hope. What that is saying is God has the ability to take every situation we are in, every circumstance of our lives and transform it into a door of hope. Our job is to trust that God can and will love us and care for us and then walk by faith and not by sight. You see, loved one, Jesus told us in this life we are going to experience hard things, tough days, life that is discouraging and disheartening but to not be dismayed because we are not without hope. In every Valley of Trouble we walk through we have a promise from God, He will be there in that desolate place right along side us leading us to the door of hope and from reading our bibles we know Jesus is that door, He is our hope!
Jesus being the door of the sheepfold brings to mind the 23rd Psalm and David’s words that the Lord is My Shepherd. David helps us remember that God is leading us into the eternal. That is how Psalm 23 ends with a reminder, “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. That’s how David and that’s how you and I make it through the Valley’s of Trouble each of us must face in this life. We stay focused on the eternal not the temporal. The Valley of Achor we all face and must go through in life are not the end, they are a simply the path that leads us to the door, the door of hope, into the eternal presence of God.
So, if life hurts today, loved one and you find yourself in the Valley of Trouble today, listen for the knock of God upon the door of your heart (Revelation 3:20). Don’t be dismayed by your circumstances. You are not lost, you are not forsaken, and the best news of all is, you are not alone. God is right there with you alluring you to the door of hope.
You can make it to the door because the One who is calling you is leading you not into the Valley to leave you there but to lead you through the Valley, to demonstrate to you that He is faithful who called you and just like David learned in the 23rd Psalm my prayer for you today too is that you know for yourself, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” God is with you, loved one, He is with you every step of the way!
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
I LOVE YOU!
Hosea 2:14-15
Have you ever thought about a door being a means of hope? In most instances a door serves to separate one area from another. To keep things in or to keep things out. In our house a door has served to hide a messy child’s room from a clean house, a room you want people to access from ones you don’t. A door of hope can be the garage door that my wife enters through after a hard day at work. Her hope when she reaches for the handle is that on the other side of that door is a clean house. My hope when I reach for the knob on the pantry door is that there is something worthwhile on the shelf inside.
My wife loves doors, especially old rustic antique ones. We have a number of decorative doors both in our house and outside as well. For the last few years it seems like each of our vacations have included treasure hunting in antique stores for you guessed it, old doors. Doors seem to always catch my wife’s eye and each time they do I am reminded that doors are very significant in the bible. It was after all Jesus Himself who said, “I Am the door.”
In the Old Testament book of Hosea in chapter 2 verse 14, there is an interesting word that catches my attention each time I read it, the word “allure”. God speaks of alluring His bride Israel back to Himself and restoring her and redeeming her after she had turned away from Him and chased after other lovers (gods). God says He “will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her.” God is saying He will allure a people who are not seeking Him but who He Himself is seeking. He will find her and allure her.
I love that word and the imagery it creates in my mind as to the lengths God will go to redeem the one He loves. In Hosea it speaks of Gomer, Hosea’s wife as she is representative of the nation of Israel, the chosen of God, and as well it speaks of you and me, loved one. God was and is alluring us, drawing us to Himself even before we were ever seeking Him. Proof, and this is no small point, God was seeking us even when we were not seeking Him! I love how it says He will speak comfort to her. Comfort, wait a second. She had committed harlotry and left God and gone after other lovers, other gods. You would think in the natural God would bring her out in the wilderness and leave her there for dead. After all, isn’t that what she deserves? Yet, we read that God is merciful, and we do well to remember mercy is only shown to sinners. God shows mercy to her and He loves her and restores her. Talk about love! Well, loved one, we are talking about God, our God!
Charles Spurgeon wrote regarding, “I will allure her”: “This is a singular kind of power: ‘I will allure her;’ not, ‘I will drive her’ not even, ‘I will draw her,’ or, ‘I will drag her;’ or, ‘I will force her.’ No, ‘I will allure her.’ It is a very remarkable word, and it teaches us that the allurement of love surpasses in power all other forces. That is how the devil ruins us; he tempts us with honeyed words, sweet utterances, with the baits of pleasure and the like; and the Lord in mercy determines that, in all truthfulness, he will outbid the devil, and he will win us to himself by fascinations, enticements, and allurements which shall be stronger than any force of resistance we may offer. This is a wonderfully precious word: ‘I will allure her.’”
Did you catch what he wrote there, “the allurement of love surpasses in power all other forces.” God’s love is alluring, when you and I finally get it, that God IS love and when we begin to comprehend God’s love for us has nothing to do with our performance in that “God doesn’t love us any more when we are ‘good’ and He doesn’t love us any less when we are ‘bad’ as it were, we are drawn to Him, or better put, “allured” to Him. How can you resist someone who doesn’t want anything from you but only for you? God doesn’t want us as slaves to serve Him, He wants us as a bride to enjoy Him.
It only gets better as you read verse 15 of chapter 2 where God says He will transform the Valley of Achor (Achor means “trouble”) into a door of hope. What that is saying is God has the ability to take every situation we are in, every circumstance of our lives and transform it into a door of hope. Our job is to trust that God can and will love us and care for us and then walk by faith and not by sight. You see, loved one, Jesus told us in this life we are going to experience hard things, tough days, life that is discouraging and disheartening but to not be dismayed because we are not without hope. In every Valley of Trouble we walk through we have a promise from God, He will be there in that desolate place right along side us leading us to the door of hope and from reading our bibles we know Jesus is that door, He is our hope!
Jesus being the door of the sheepfold brings to mind the 23rd Psalm and David’s words that the Lord is My Shepherd. David helps us remember that God is leading us into the eternal. That is how Psalm 23 ends with a reminder, “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. That’s how David and that’s how you and I make it through the Valley’s of Trouble each of us must face in this life. We stay focused on the eternal not the temporal. The Valley of Achor we all face and must go through in life are not the end, they are a simply the path that leads us to the door, the door of hope, into the eternal presence of God.
So, if life hurts today, loved one and you find yourself in the Valley of Trouble today, listen for the knock of God upon the door of your heart (Revelation 3:20). Don’t be dismayed by your circumstances. You are not lost, you are not forsaken, and the best news of all is, you are not alone. God is right there with you alluring you to the door of hope.
You can make it to the door because the One who is calling you is leading you not into the Valley to leave you there but to lead you through the Valley, to demonstrate to you that He is faithful who called you and just like David learned in the 23rd Psalm my prayer for you today too is that you know for yourself, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” God is with you, loved one, He is with you every step of the way!
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
I LOVE YOU!
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