THE VOICE OF THE VALLEYS
Pt 1
“Achor, the Valley of Troubled Hearts”
Joshua 7:26 “Then they raised over him (Achan) a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor (trouble) to this day.”
Then, 400 years later, the Prophet Hosea refers back to the stinging memory of the valley of Achor when addressing Israel:
Hosea 2:14-15 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her. 15 I will give her 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.”
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The Valley of Achor means the “Valley of Trouble,” or what we could call the “valley of troubled hearts.”
It was a place of judgment and despair in Israel’s history (Joshua 7).
After Israel experienced a great victory at the battle of Jericho, Achan, a member of the tribe of Judah, directly disobeyed the Lord’s command and kept some of the treasures from Jericho for himself.
Then after Achan secretly did this, Israel fought against Ai.
Ai was a much weaker city than Jericho, yet the battle ended in humiliation and defeat for Israel (Joshua 7:2–5).
The Lord revealed to Joshua the reason they had lost the battle was because of Achan’s act of disobedience.
God said, “Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions” (Verse 11).
Achan–branded later as “the troubler of Israel,” had brought trouble on the whole nation.
Once Achan’s sin was dealt with, the Lord turned from His anger, and Israel was again victorious in battle.
So the valley of Achor became a cautionary tale for all those considering disobeying God.
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Now, jump ahead 400 years.
Israel has drifted far from God, and Hosea is sent to warn them of God’s impending judgment.
They had so far ignored all the warnings of the prophets sent to them, and sadly would also ignore Hosea.
A mere 30 years or so after Hosea’s call to repent, Israel fell to the Assyrians, was carried into exile, and ceased to exist as a nation!
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But God’s promise to turn their valley of trouble into a door of hope still stands true today as a principle of God for all of us.
–If in our valley experiences we repent and turn from any wrong things in our life, and turn to God with all our heart…
God will answer by turning even our troubles into a doorway of hope!
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Now, if you’ve been alive long at all you’re likely familiar with the valley of a troubled heart.
It may be a dad that was not there for you when you were growing up.
Or a marriage relationship which started out wonderfully but has ended in a bitter divorce.
It might be your child that, no matter what you do to help him or her, they can’t seem to get it together.
Or it could be a relationship with a best friend that lasted a number of decades but recently turned sour.
Or it might be the valley of some bitter personal failure that has left you in pain, lying in the ashes of regret.
–Whatever it may be, we’re all familiar with the Valley of Trouble.
We’ve all been, or are right now in a Valley of Trouble!
LISTEN! Wherever you are today—whatever valley you’re in—God is here to offer hope and restoration!
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Look at the amazing thing God promises Israel:
“There (in the valley) I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.”
God says the barren, troubled valley will become the very place where your richest fruit will be gathered!
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So let’s look at how God takes our valleys and turns them into places of blessing and doors of hope!
First, in the valley of trouble:
I. He speaks to you
2:14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.”
Scripture says here that God Himself brought Israel into the valley of trouble so that they would face some things that needed to be dealt with.
He shut all the doors to all the other gods they’d been flirting with and “hedged her in.”
Listen to these powerful verses:
2:6 “So I, the Lord, will block Israel’s road with thorns, and I will build a wall. Then she will not be able to find her path. 7 She will run after her lovers (replacements for God), but she will not be able to catch up with them. She will look for her lovers (idols), but she will not be able to find them.”
In the valley of trouble God blocks the paths to all the wrong places and all the wrong people.
In love He “hedges you in!”
–Like the Prodigal Son in Jesus’s parable, the party’s over!
The money runs dry.
All the old friends can’t be found.
And you wake up to find yourself alone in a pig sty eating pigs food.
–But listen: THIS is the very time when God “speaks comforts.”
The Holy Spirit gently reminds us of what it was like walking with the Lord with our whole heart.
We remember the peace and the joy we had, how it was so much better in the Father’s house!
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Then the next thing that happens in the valley is:
You “come to yourself.”
It says of the Prodigal, “But when he came to himself.”
He had left his true self, who he really was, and had stepped away from his father’s house, which was a type of spiritual insanity.
Then the Prodigal said, “I will arise and go to my father…”
In Hosea’s prophecy, Israel says, “I will go back to my husband” (God).
Life was better for me when I was with him.
Life was better then than it is now.’”
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Next we see that God turns:
II. The valley of trouble into a testimony of triumph
“I will give her her vineyards from there…She shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.”
The very place where Satan sought to destroy you becomes the place of your greatest testimony!
The desolate, dry valley becomes the birthplace of:
a song of thanksgiving
abundant spiritual fruit,
deeper wisdom,
a softer heart, and,
a powerful testimony of God’s amazing grace!
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The Bible is filled with testimonies like this!
I think of Joseph who was:
BETRAYED by his own brothers
SOLD into slavery by them
LIED about by Potiphar’s wife
IMPRISONED for something he didn’t do
FORGOTTEN by those he helped and blessed
Yet it was in that valley of a troubled, broken heart that God:
TAUGHT him to interpret dreams
ASSURED him of His faithful presence
GIFTED him with organizational genius
CHISELED into his character the maturity to guide a nation
The vineyards of richest fruitfulness were grown in his deepest valley!
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And last but not least, out of the valley of trouble God brings:
III. A brand new beginning:
“I will give…the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;”–vs 15
A DOOR is something you walk through.
In this case the ‘DOOR OF HOPE’ was a door leading to:
new beginnings,
new opportunities,
a new day!
The God of the Bible specializes in turning DEAD-ENDS into new beginnings, CUL-DE-SACS into highways!
Because of God’s great mercy and redemptive nature,
–He plants seeds of hope in hopeless places!
–The place of your GREATEST PAIN becomes the birthplace of your BRIGHTEST PROMISE!
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• He SPEAKS in the valley
• Turns TROUBLE to TRIUMPH in the valley
• Creates NEW BEGINNINGS
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As we close, I have a question: What is your valley of Achor today?
Are you in the valley of troubled hearts?
If so, God is saying:
Come home.
Turn to Me.
Let go of anything that you know is hindering you, and fully surrender.”