The Doorway

 Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15There 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 2:14-15...."The first stage of deliverance is the restoration of hope." Francis Frangiapane

When God was speaking to the people of Israel, He was speaking to a nation that had collectively abandoned their God for other gods, gods who Scripture tells us, "were no gods at all." They had reaped a terrible price in it, leading to their being conquered and enslaved again and again by various surrounding nations. As I contemplated that, it came to mind that not everyone in Israel had done so, yet even His faithful had fallen under the yoke of foreign powers and the righteous were suffering along with the unrighteous. There are consequences to our sin and rebellion, and oftentimes, those consequences will affect the innocent. The result can be, and often is, a loss of hope. Into all this pain and brokenness, God spoke His words of hope. He continues to do so today, for you, and for me.

Of this passage, Francis Frangiapane writes, "In the Valley of Achor (the Valley of Trouble), the scene of our deepest wounds and worst failures, He has placed a door of hope." That door is, and will forever be, Jesus Christ. Tragically, too few ever see Him as that. Our sin, pain, failures, so weigh us down, that we have lost the ability to look up, and it is in the looking up that we will see His doorway. John, on the island of Patmos, held prisoner for the rest of his life, in the midst of it all, looked up and saw a doorway open into the very throne room of the Father. God has for us, always has for us, a door of hope, especially for those who have lost all hope. As Frangiapane says, the first step in deliverance is the restoration of hope. Where in your life might you need such restoration today?

I have had more than one experience with this doorway, but the most profound took place more than 30 years ago. It was in the midst of the darkest time of my life. My marriage had collapsed, along with my ministry. Circumstances in my life seemed to just go from bad to worse. I felt just like Job, who received wave after wave of bad and devastating news. I was reeling, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I had no idea what was going to happen with me. I was afraid, and all hope seemed lost. He seemed far away. He wasn't.

I'm not going to tell you that He turned everything around in a moment, but He did begin a process of restoration. I had nothing, but a door opened for a place to live and a job. From there, another door opened to another place and another job. Slowly, step by step, one door of hope opened unto another door of hope. The pain and brokenness remained real, but into it He constantly came, offering hope, offering Himself. I had been told by many that because of my divorce, a divorce I never sought or wanted, I needed to realize that the door to restoration of my ministry was closed. His witness to me was to refuse to believe that. After a year and half's time, another door opened with the offer of a part time ministry as an Associate Pastor at the fellowship of a good friend. Two years later yet another door opened to come to Northern Virginia to plant a new work. For the next 27 years He ministered to me, and through me, and He continued in many dark places to open that door of hope. Now, in semi-retirement, He still does. Hope is renewed and restored again and again. It will be so until He opens that final door, to my greatest hope in Him, and that is spending eternity with Him, in His Presence.

Someone said that when one door closes and another has not yet opened, that it's "hell in the hallway." It certainly can be, but if we will trust that He is there, that He will always be there, we can hope in Him, not in what we want to happen, but in Him. His goodness, mercy, and sure purpose for us. Our hope is centered on Him. As the old hymn goes, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." There lies the key to our hope, as well as the key to the door He will surely open. Trust Him.....and hope in Him.

Blessings,

Pastor O