Hope in Troubled Times
The world is full of trouble for all mankind, whether Christian or not. It rains on the just and the unjust. What makes the difference for God’s people is hope.
Biblical hope by definition is an expectation with certainty that God will do what He says. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” –Hebrews 11:1. We are taught that God turns valleys of trouble into doors of hope.
Hosea 2 tells us that after troubled times God rescues and brings hope back to Israel. Hosea 2:15 says, “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.”
Achor means trouble. The valley of Achor was a place of trouble where Achan’s sin was punished by death and God’s anger was settled. God now will make the valley of Achor a door of hope. God brings hope and rescue out of troubled times. It is so easy to get caught up in our everyday troubles and lose sight of the great hope we have in God.
This happened to Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:18-20:
So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.” I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Our rescue and hope is found in the familiar verses of Lamentations as we bring to our mind what Jeremiah did to his. Lamentations 3:21-24:
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
We remember God’s steadfast love. Proof of His love is found in that we are not consumed. His love never ceases and is not determined by my actions—good or bad. We also remember God’s unending mercies. They are new every morning, and that’s how often I need them. Instead of God giving me what I deserve, He gives me mercy and challenges me to give mercy to others as well.
We remember God’s unwavering faithfulness. God always comes through with what he promises. He promises all things work together, that we are more than conquerors, and that nothing will separate us from his love (Romans 8).
I remind myself that the Lord is my portion and therefore I will hope in Him.
God can make your valley of Achor a door of hope and rescue you from troubled times. When I allow my mind to be controlled by the troubled circumstances of the world then I can become burdened, bitter, discouraged, and eventually hopeless. But when I remember to set my mind on the love of God, even in troubled times, I find hope in the love, mercy, and faithfulness of God.
Like Jeremiah, we say “this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.” (Lamentations 3:21). We, like Israel, can find hope that was seemingly lost. Hosea 2:15 says, “There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.”
Songs of deliverance will once be sung again because of the rescue and hope of the Lord. Praise God for the certainty of hope in a troubled world.