"Trouble Brings Hope" Hosea 2.1-15: Senior Pastor Daniel Reese

If you have your bibles, Hosea chapter 2.

Hosea 2 · chapter mention

Hosea chapter 2.

Hosea 2 · chapter mention

So a couple weeks ago we began our journey through the book of Hosea.

So just to summarize real quick, for those of you that weren't here, we learned that God

had commanded Hosea to Mary Gomer, who was a prostitute.

We learned that they have some children with some very unfortunate names, Jezreel, which

means God's going to scatter.

One kid's name is No Mercy.

One kid's name is Not My Children.

And so we said that Hosea is a living example of what God was trying to convey to His people.

Hosea who remains faithful and steady is constantly having to live with the fact that his wife

is unfaithful and potentially not all of the kids that she has conceived are His.

Every day He is living in this reality.

What God is trying to communicate is that the people are acting similar to Gomer.

We are the whore of the story, while God remains faithful and steady.

We as God's people, those who He has adopted as His children, are constantly looking for

something else to bring us some joy.

We are constantly committing spiritual infidelity, but God continues to pursue and love in spite

of all of that.

God has outlined in His Word numerous times on how He expects His people to act, what

is the best path forward, He had proven Himself countless times in miraculous ways, but the

people kept falling back into the same pattern of behavior.

He would rescue them out of Egypt.

And they would complain because Moses led them to the dead end of the Red Sea.

God parts the Red Sea, leads them across dry land, and then they complained that they're

thirsty, should have died in Egypt.

Over and over again they go back and worship idols, complaining about the circumstances

and forget what God is capable of.

When our focus is on ourselves and not God, that's what happens, complaining and idol

worship.

Now, we might not be making golden calves, but we pursue other things of worship, don't

we?

And then we wonder why God feels so distant, and then we wonder why we feel like God is

punishing us.

Now I won't name any names, but at a previous church I had this lady that was the basic

definition of bad decisions.

I met her at an outreach event our church was doing at an apartment complex.

We got to talking, and she ended up coming to church the next Sunday.

Not only did she start coming to church, but she was at everything.

She was always wanting to help with something that we had going on.

She had great ideas about how to minister to the community.

I found out later that her dad was a pastor, and once I met him in person I knew that she

had a good foundation.

He understood God's word.

He modeled it for her as she grew up, but for some reason her life was a train wreck.

She was engaged at one time to a pretty heavy drug user who eventually OD'd.

She had one kid and didn't know who the dad was.

She was pregnant at the time with another kid.

She wasn't married to the dad at the time, but they were living together.

It seemed every single week we were hearing about another tragedy in her life, but everything

I would say she already knew the answer to.

She already knew what was wrong.

There was always something wrong, but she wouldn't do anything to fix it.

She would come to church week after week.

She would agree with what we were teaching, but nothing ever got better.

Nothing ever changed.

And she would often attribute it to, well, this is the life that I've been dealt with,

dealt by God.

This is my life.

This is what God has chosen to give me.

She was saying that her life was hard because God wanted to make her strong.

And in reality, her life was hard mainly because she was making some really terrible

life decisions.

She wasn't honoring God with her life.

She knew how to turn her life around.

She knew what God's word said, but she never applied any of it.

She would just chase one situation after the next, hoping to find contentment, hoping to

find some purpose.

And the reality is that many of us are guilty of the same attitude.

And if you read the first half of chapter two of Hosea, you will see what some of the

consequences are.

Verse three says that God will shame us, that we'll get busted in our sin, that we will

be left in the wilderness to die of dehydration, that our families will not be blessed because

we have acted so shamefully.

I want to focus real quick on verse five because it tells us what got her children in this

predicament in the first place.

So this is Gomers children.

This is how they are going to, this is the consequences of Gomers.

It says, for their mother has played the whore.

She has conceived them and acted shamefully.

For she said, I will go after my lovers who give me my bread and my water, my wool and

my flax, my oil and my drink.

Now I want you to think about that verse.

There's a whole lot of pursuit in that verse of oneself, isn't there?

God is saying that Gomers chased other lovers because of what they could give her.

It wasn't for love.

It was because of the temporary benefits by chasing other people.

She goes to one for food.

We don't do that, do we?

When it was the last time that you were so desperate for food that the only way you knew

you were going to get it is that God provided it.

If you're like me, probably never.

Instead we have a difficult time figuring out where we're going to go eat because we

have so many options.

How many arguments has that started in a family?

We have too many options.

When I was growing up the fashion trend was Ralph Lauren polo shirts that had the little

logo on the, right here on the side.

You know what you want to talk about?

If I remember correctly, those shirts were $80 or so at Dillard's.

And for some reason my mom wouldn't buy me any of them.

She would say there's not a reason for a 13 year old to have an $80 shirt that she knew

I was going to mess up in a week or two.

Now I understand that now that I have kids, but I couldn't understand it then.

Well, I guess my parents want me to be the loser at school.

I guess I'll have to be known as the poor kid.

Even though we were anything but poor.

So my mom found some shirts for me at Target or some store like that and the logo looked

similar.

But instead of holding a mallet, the guy was holding a flag.

I think the brand was Knights of the Round Table or something like that.

But for me, Target wasn't good enough.

I needed the real thing.

I wasn't content with what was provided for me.

So then I began to question my, if my parents even cared for me, if they even loved me.

It's stupid now, but it just shows the idolatry that was in my heart.

That's one of the problems in our culture today.

We idolize what others think of us.

We eat at certain restaurants because we are too good for others.

We wear certain clothes for others, not for us.

We don't wear clothes for us.

We wear clothes because we want people to think about us a certain way.

Do you think people in Kenya or Panama or other countries like that care what they wear?

No.

They're just grateful to have clothes, aren't they?

The reason there is such harsh judgment from God in this text.

The reason there's such hard judgment from God at this time in Israel's history is because

they were doing really well physically.

They were strong.

They were thriving.

But spiritually, they were bankrupt.

They didn't see the need for the Lord because of how successful they were.

They weren't desperate for His presence like they were at that moment at the Red Sea.

Now they're in a position of look at what we have accomplished.

Look at how strong our army is.

Look at how strong our cities are.

That should speak to every one of our hearts this morning.

What are you chasing?

What are you building?

What are you hoping for?

And what is the motivation behind it?

Once again, all of us should see ourselves in the person of Gomorrah.

And because of the motivation in the hearts of Gomorrah, because of the motivation in

the hearts of the people of Israel, God is going to bring judgment.

He's going to send a shock through their system.

He's going to scatter them throughout the land.

He's not going to show them mercy.

They're going to be conquered.

And life is going to continue to get hard for them.

What do you feel like the proper relationship between you and God should be?

Now oftentimes our perspective is that it's all God's fault for the things that happen

to us.

So He owes us.

The Jewish people felt like God owed them because they were Jewish.

And oftentimes feel like God owes them because they are Christian.

Now remember it is God who sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins.

Now although what we deserved was eternal death in hell.

So what kind of God do you have?

Some people think of God as a higher power.

Which our war is made popular by calling it the force.

The New Age movement just refers to it as a higher power.

But what is significant is that God has been changed into a higher power, which is just

there to help people achieve their goals.

All you have to do is tap into that higher power to do whatever you want.

Just visualize it and it will happen.

Or maybe our concept of God is not so obviously wrong.

Here we make God into a grandfather image.

God is seen as this kind loving grandfather.

Sitting in heaven and not really concerned with what his grandchildren are doing.

You know that typically it is the grandparents who spoiled the children and let them do whatever

they want.

Many of you are guilty of this.

Then send them back home to the parents who have to discipline them.

Like that's one of the benefits of being grandparents, right?

We want a grandfather God who will indulge and spoil us and not make us obey the rules.

What kind of God do you have?

Because the God I read about here in Hosea is the same God I read about in Job.

He is a Lord that gives but also can take away.

As you keep reading through Hosea chapter 2, God tells Hosea that because she has failed

Hosea 2 · chapter mention

to acknowledge that I'm the one who provided her food.

I'm the one who provided her drink and clothes.

And because she had pursued other things, I'm going to take it away.

I'm going to take it away.

I'm going to humble her.

Now sometimes kids need humbling, don't they?

There are times that my kids think they know what's best.

There are times that my kids truly believe that they are smarter than I am.

There are times that my kids believe that what has been given to them is theirs and no one

else's.

You know me and their mama, we have to humble them a little bit because the reality is that

when they were younger, before they could earn anything, they didn't have anything that

was theirs that had not been given to them.

When Adelaide was younger, she would make this big deal about her bed.

It was her bed.

It was hers you weren't allowed to look at it, much less lay on it.

Well guess who got a bunk mate?

It was her room.

How dare you come into my room?

It's mine.

Guess who was missing a door for a few weeks?

Now we did that so that she would understand that everything that she had came from us.

Everything she was given had come from her and it could be taken away at any moment.

Everything we have is God's and it could be taken away at any moment.

Now as she has the right attitude about her things, as my kids have the right attitude

about their things, we don't want to take it away from them.

As parents, we want to bless them.

Now I have a hard time believing that if the people of Israel were worshiping the Lord,

or celebrating all that He has done, He wouldn't have punished, but He would have continued

to bless.

That's why it's so imperative to understand that everything that is good isn't because

we did that, we built that, but it's understanding that every good and perfect gift comes down

from the Father.

We need the right perspective.

But what I really want to focus on is even in the midst of this punishment, even in the

midst of God's righteous anger, He's still full of love.

Jump down with me to verse 14.

So He's outlined what the punishment is going to be, what He's going to take away, how He's

going to humble the nation of Israel, how He's going to humble Gomorrah, how He's going

to humble you and I, then verse 14.

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly

to her.

And then I will give her her vineyards and make the valley of Acor 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.

Now, if your translation, if you aren't reading the ESV, might say the valley of trouble.

We're all familiar with the valley of trouble.

It may be a dad who was not there for you when you were growing up.

It may be a marriage relationship that started off so wonderfully, but ended in a bitter divorce.

It might be your child that no matter what you do to help them, they cannot seem to be

able to get it together.

It may be a relationship with a best friend that spanned a number of decades, but then

turned sour.

We all know the valley of trouble.

We have all been in the valley of trouble.

Hosea knows all so well the valley of trouble because his wife, Gomor, has left him to play

the whore.

He understands it.

He knows it.

And God uses that story of Hosea and his wife's unfaithfulness to him to paint a picture of

God's unfaithfulness to God and God's pursuit to win Israel back.

The story, this story could have been written for today about our nation's unfaithfulness

to God, or we could bring it down to a more personal level, and it could have been written

about our unfaithfulness to God.

And what I want us to see is God's response.

God told Hosea to pursue Gomor.

God pursued Israel.

And I believe God is pursuing each and every one of us.

And let's see what we can learn.

Have you ever gotten yourself so spiritually off track?

And God brought you to the exact same place you were when you went off track so that you

could have another chance to make better decisions and do it God's way.

Verse 14, therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and

speak tenderly to her.

The Bible is full of examples of that exact same thing happening to individuals.

There was Moses who killed an Egyptian soldier and had to flee to the backside of the wilderness

only to be brought back to the exact same place where he fled from the first time to

stand before the Pharaoh of Egypt to demand the release of God's people, God's way.

There was Jonah who heard the call from God to arise and go to Nineveh, but he fled to

Tarshish, God on a ship, thrown off the same ship when the men threw him overboard.

Jonah was swallowed by a great fish.

He prayed to God that the fish would spit him out.

The Bible says in Jonah chapter three, God said for the second time, arise and go to

Nineveh.

And so Jonah came back to the exact same command that God had asked him the first time.

There's a story in Daniel chapter four where God took the kingdom of Babylon away from

King Nebuchadnezzar because he felt like he built it.

It was his kingdom.

And the king goes mad for seven seasons and lived like an animal.

After it says that after seven season, he came to his mind and claimed God rules the

kingdoms of the world and he was restored to his position as king.

Nebuchadnezzar came back to his kingship with a different mindset about who was in charge.

Think about your life.

Is there a time that God has brought you full circle?

That's how God works.

You may revisit a place where you fell away from God because God will bring you back to

that same place so that this time you can make the right choice or choices.

Now make no mistake about it.

Make no mistake about it.

God is the God of second and third and four choices always giving you a chance to get it

right.

When God brings you back to the place where you went off track, when he brings you back

and gives you another chance or a third chance, he does not do so to scold you or to throw

some guilt on you but to speak with tender care about getting you back on track.

Sometimes I'm guilty of this.

Sometimes parents will bring a child back to the scene of a mess because children make

messes, don't they?

And then start scolding them and telling them, do you see what you've done?

Do you see what this is going to cost?

Do you see how this is broken?

You better never make that kind of mess again.

Let me let you in on a secret.

I found from my personal experiences that my parents yelling and screaming at me was not

an effective way to get me to change my ways.

I've learned that with my own kids.

Now sometimes yelling makes me feel better in the moment.

Sometimes it just, it comes out because I feel like it needs to come out.

But it really does not change the heart of my kids.

It's something that I'm working on.

So I went back and I read the Exodus story and no place did I see after God brought Moses

back to Egypt, God telling Moses that you know this is where you killed the Egyptian.

This is where you messed up.

I also reread the story of Jonah.

Now nowhere did I see God tell Jonah, you know you messed up.

You better not do it again.

This is your last chance.

You're going to stay in that fish longer next time if you don't get this right.

It wasn't in there.

In Hosea, God knows that Israel messed up again and again by worshiping idols.

But he does not bring that up.

And the scriptures says God talks tenderly to her.

He leads in a loving way.

He's going to return them to the wilderness and he's going to speak lovingly to them.

He's going to allure them.

If you feel like your life is a mess because of the sin you keep returning to, because

of the sin that you are walking in.

I want you to know that God can restore what sin has stolen from you.

Verse 15, I will give her vineyards from there in the valley of Acor 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.

He brings her back to where she messed up and he speaks lovingly to her.

And he says, I'm going to restore you.

The valley of Acor is not first mentioned here in Hosea, but it's actually mentioned

first in Joshua chapter 7.

Joshua 7 · chapter mention

Israel had taken Jericho.

Remember the big march around the walls?

They take Jericho.

And God told them, don't take any of the treasures of Jericho for themselves, but put them in

God's treasury.

Give them to the Lord.

But a man named Achan stole some of those items and buried them in his tent.

When the Israelites went to go capture the next town of A, they were soundly defeated.

They were destroyed.

God told Joshua that their defeat was because of sin inside the camp.

It was Achan's sin that caused their defeat.

And Joshua says this in 725.

And Joshua said, why have you troubled us?

The Lord will trouble you this day.

So all Israel stoned him with stones and they burned them with fire after they had stoned

them with stones.

This happened in the Valley of Acorn, which became known from that day forward as the

Valley of Trouble.

Now the Israelites are returned to this Valley in Hosea, the Valley of Trouble.

And God says, you know what?

It does not have to be the Valley of Trouble anymore.

It can be the door of hope.

It doesn't have to be the Valley of Trouble.

We can rename this thing.

We can change this thing.

I can restore it to the Valley of Hope.

And you can get your joy back.

You can get your song back.

You can feel like you did in the days of your youth when you and I first walked together.

Do you know what?

God offers that to each and every one of us today.

Let God take you back to where you went off track.

Let Him speak to you with tender care.

And then you get to a point where you're going to choose to follow His voice this time.

You and I are Gomer.

And if you feel distant from the Lord this morning, maybe He needs to take you back to

where you went off track.

Maybe there's many of you in this room today that are in the Valley of Trouble, that are

in the Valley of Pain.

And the offer today is I can restore that and I can give you a door of hope.

So then the question becomes, are you going to allow God to speak lovingly to you?

Are you going to allow Him to lead you?

Are you going to follow Him?

Or are you going to still have the wrong perspective of God that He's just waiting to pounce on

you?

That He's waiting to cast judgment on you?

That He's waiting to bring you down and tear you down to where you're just a pile of dust?

Or are you going to change your perspective?

Where you understand that He is offering you hope?

He's offering you a new beginning.

He's offering you a second chance, third chance, fourth chance.

Now if you're like me at all, two chances usually isn't enough.

Some of us are stubborn, some of us are hard headed, and it takes God beating things into

us for us to understand, okay, let me try it a different way.

And so if you take anything from this morning, if you take anything from chapter 2, I hope

you'll understand that God has outlined in His word.

This is the best way to life.

This is the best way to life.

And instead of following that way of life, we've pursued other options.

We've tried to find contentment in so many different things.

And if that's going to continue to be your life cycle, I don't want you to be surprised

when punishment comes.

Because sometimes God has to shock our system.

Sometimes God has to bring us to rock bottom.

But once you are at rock bottom, He's going to speak lovingly and tenderly to you.

He's going to restore you.

He's going to offer you hope and give you another chance, and another chance, and another

chance.

So this morning as we sing one more song, as we have just time to respond, as we close

this chapter, if you're in the valley of trouble.

If life's just hard on you right now, you don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I want you to find the door of hope.

I want you to ask Him to lead you to that door.

I want you to hear Him speak lovingly to you.

So many of us have bad examples of earthly fathers.

That's not who God is.

Don't project your image of your dad.

He's speaking lovingly to you.

He's trying to restore you.

So for many of you, maybe the door of hope is right where you're sitting.

Maybe the door of hope is right here at the altar.

I'm going to ask the prayer team to be available.

Maybe the door of hope is just taking that next step and asking for somebody to walk

with you.

So as a prayer team is up here, maybe you take advantage of that opportunity today.

Maybe you call upon His name.

Let's pray.

Father God, I pray.

I pray, God, that the person that's in this room that just feels the weight of the world

on them, that has just been bombarded by pain.

God, I pray that you restore them today.

If that pain is there just because of bad decision after bad decision, Father, I pray

that you speak lovingly to them.

I pray that you will bring us back to where we started.

I pray, God, you speak to our hearts.

So God, I pray that you will move in a powerful way this morning.

I pray that you speak to our hearts this morning.

I pray that you restore this morning.

So I pray for the individual who needed to hear that verse, that you're going to take

us to the wilderness and you're going to speak lovingly to us.

I pray, Father, that we find solace in knowing that you've paid the price for us and we just

have to trust in the name of Jesus.

So Father, I pray for people to call on His name today and let the healing begin today.

So Father, I look at this time to you.

I pray that you minister and work up everything that happens.

You receive all the glory for it.

Give us the heart of obedience.

Open our ears, open our hearts, soften our hearts and not be so stubborn.

So God, we just thank you for the second chance and third chance and fourth chance.

Give us the prayer, God, today is a new day in our journey with you.

I ask all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.