A Door of Hope

Hosea 2:15

And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

If you've never read the book of Hosea I suggest that you do. This book is a story of love, true love. Not the soap opera or storybook love, but absolute true, forgiving love. God uses the story of Hosea and Gomer, no laughing... I wouldn't have married a woman named Gomer either, to set up an illustration of what happened between God and Israel. Gomer had left Hosea to live an adulterous lifestyle with men and money. She left her children and husband to pursue the selfish sins of her desire. But Hosea wasn't satisfied with letting her go. He redeemed her. He actually sent out the children to find her and plead with her. After she was found, he bought her out of her sinful lifestyle. What love! What forgiveness! What a Pursuer!

God stated that He wanted to do the exact same thing with Israel. He wanted them to return. He made this statement about the "door of hope" we see in our scripture. You may think that this is small or meaningless but you're missing it. God said He would give a door of hope in the valley of Achor. This valley was not known for hope. No, it was known for sin, death and judgment. It was in this valley that Joshua was commanded by God to take Achan and his family there for stoning. It was a valley of judgment, but God says I will give it to you for a "door of HOPE".

Praise God for the door of hope! God is extending His grace unto us this morning. There is a door before you. Today it is the door of hope, but if He comes and puts an end to this time and place then it will be a door of judgment. Open the door, He is standing at it knocking. (Revelation 3:20)

Are You Thirsty Yet?

Revelation 21:6

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

This is the story of the woman at the well. So much can be learned from this chapter of scripture. We can see how Christ comes to us. We can see how He meets us where we are. We see how Jesus addresses sin with truth and love, not overlooking it. We see how He took a direct interest in speaking to this woman. We see how He can change a life through His salvation and forever change a woman and city. Like I said, we can learn so much from this chapter.

I want to look at the situation of his woman and what Jesus was offering to her. Her situation is simple. She had looked and looked because she was thirsty. She drank from the fountain of the world and came up thirsty every time. I wonder how many times she thought, "This is the one, this is the man I have waited for!  He is the one that will satisfy my every need"? Only to have the relationship to end in disaster. This scripture tells us that she was married five times and living with a man now. I don't believe that God gives us this scripture to condemn the life of this woman but rather show her life and heart condition.

Her condition was one of thirst. Some would say that she lusted over men, and you could be right because I'm not old enough to know this woman to have asked her. Some would say that she just had bad luck with men. Maybe that old country song was written about her... "Looking for love in all the wrong places..."  We don't know. But what we do know is that Jesus didn't spend much time on what she was doing, but on why she was doing it. She's thirsty! And this worldly water, or worldly love was not going to satisfy it.

This woman searched for her thirst to be satisfied in the men she marrying and it could only be found in Jesus. While she was drawing water for her thirst, she was given the water of life! Our devotion scripture says that He will give this water to anyone who is thirsty. So I ask you today, are you thirsty yet?