Ministers Blogs
“Disaster to Hope”
Categories: Christian PrinciplesTonk Talk by Mark T. Tonkery
It was a dark day in the history of Israel. Upon their first entrance into the promised land as a nation, God told Israel to conquer Jericho by marching around the city. On the seventh day of marching around the city as God instructed, the walls of Jericho came down (Josh. 6:15-21). God also commanded that Israel not take anything from the city, only Rahab and her family were to be rescued, everything else, the silver, gold, bronze, and iron was considered sacred to the Lord and must go into the Lord’s treasury (Josh. 6:19). Later in Joshua chapter seven, we find out that Achan disobeyed the Lord and stole several of the items from Jericho. Joshua found out about the stolen items when his army was defeated by the city of Ai, and it was later determined that Achan had stolen from the remains of Jericho. Joshua and all of Israel took Achan, the items he stole, his family, and all his possessions to the Valley of Achor (Josh. 7:24). There all of Israel stoned Achan, and his family and then burned them and heaped up a large pile of rocks where their remains lay (Josh. 7:25-26).
The place where Achan and his family were stoned and burned was called “the Valley of Achor” which means the “valley of trouble or disaster.” This area would be known for generations of Israelites as a place of disgrace, dishonor, and punishment. The pile of rocks would have been a perpetual reminder to all future generations that one must obey the Lord or there would be consequences for disobedience.
One can only imagine what it must have been like to pass by the Valley of Achor. Maybe it was like the time I went along with the church group from South Point, Ohio and we visited the old prison in Moundsville, West Virginia. As we went on the tour and saw the prison cells and then passed by the electric chair, there was a sickening feeling that came over me, even a type of fear. I was horror-struck at what I saw and heard as the tour guide shared stories about the people who were imprisoned and even died there. If you have ever visited that place, you know what I am talking about. The Valley of Achor was such a place.
Scripture does not say much about the Valley of Achor until we come to Hosea 2:15. In Hosea chapter two God declares that he is going to bring punishment upon Israel for her wickedness and unfaithfulness but after His punishment, He is going to restore Israel. Notice, Hos. 2:15, “And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt” (ESV).
This place of disaster is now going to be a “door of hope.” It is a reminder that we each have our own “Valley of Achor.” We each have had those times in our life where we have had terrible and disastrous things happen because of our poor choices and sin. The good news is that we do not have to live there, through Jesus Christ we can have a new beginning and a new start. Jesus is our “door of hope.”
Jesus states in John 10:9, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” Only Jesus Christ can offer the troubled in our world the “door of hope.”
Through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection our troubled past can be forgiven, and we can have a new beginning through Him. When we confess Christ as the Son of God (Mt. 10:32), repent of our sins, and put Christ on in baptism (Acts 2:38), we enter the door of hope in Christ. Christ waits for the lost to enter the “door of hope.” Are you willing to enter through it? Think about it!
