{"id":3679,"date":"2019-06-18T19:55:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T19:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpmu.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/?p=3679"},"modified":"2021-12-08T09:21:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T09:21:39","slug":"from-valley-of-trouble-to-gateway-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/2019\/06\/18\/from-valley-of-trouble-to-gateway-of-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"From Valley of Trouble To Gateway of Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Taken from the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tyndale.com\/p\/the-swindoll-study-bible-nlt\/9781414387253\">Swindoll Study Bible<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Then Joshua said to Achan, &#8216;My son, give glory to the&nbsp;Lord, the God of Israel, by telling the truth. Make your confession and tell me what you have done. Don\u2019t hide it from me.&#8217; Achan replied, &#8216;It is true! I have sinned against the&nbsp;Lord, the God of Israel.&nbsp;Among the plunder I saw a beautiful robe from Babylon, 200&nbsp;silver coins, and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound.&nbsp;I wanted them so much that I took them. They are hidden in the ground beneath my tent, with the silver buried deeper than the rest.&#8217;\u201d Joshua 7:19-21, NLT<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/SwindollLargePrint-e1560887320717-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3686\" width=\"218\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/SwindollLargePrint-e1560887320717-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/SwindollLargePrint-e1560887320717-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/SwindollLargePrint-e1560887320717-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/SwindollLargePrint-e1560887320717-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/SwindollLargePrint-e1560887320717-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 218px) 100vw, 218px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>After Joshua&#8217;s Victory at Jericho, the Israelites suffered defeat at Ai because a man named Achan had buried banned spoils of war under his tent (Josh. 7:1-26). Following this event, the valley of Achor (or the \u201cValley of Trouble\u201d) served as a reminder of failure, setback, and defeat. The word Achor means \u201ctrouble,\u201d so with a slight variation on Achan\u2019s name, Joshua asked him, \u201cWhy have you brought trouble on us?\u201d (Josh. 7:25). After Achan\u2019s execution, the valley where he died took on the name \u201cValley of Trouble.\u201d This valley may well be the Wadi Qelt just west of Jericho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"155\" height=\"207\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/SwindollStudyBibleWaldiQeltMap.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3684\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>When the Jews returning from the Exile came across this story in the genealogical record, they would have remembered Achan as Achar, \u201cdisaster\u201d But they also would have recalled that the prophets described the valley of Achor\u2014a place once linked with sin, discipline, and death\u2014as a place of promise. In Hosea, God declares that He will change the place from a site of trouble to a place of triumph. Most notably, the prophet Hosea spoke of the valley as a future \u201cgateway of hope\u201d (Hos. 2:15). Isaiah referred to the dry valley as the spot where herds will someday be pastured (Isa. 65:10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"362\" height=\"292\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/Swindoll-Study-Bible-Valley-of-Trouble-Image.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/Swindoll-Study-Bible-Valley-of-Trouble-Image.jpg 362w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/06\/Swindoll-Study-Bible-Valley-of-Trouble-Image-300x242.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The Valley of Trouble serves as a reminder that God can produce hope in spite of our worst situations. Even if the trouble we have experienced is a result of our own doing, God can heal us as we come to terms with and repent of our sin. As Christians, we have the promise that when we confess our buried, hidden sins, God will \u201ccleanse us from all wickedness\u201d (1 Jn. 1:9)\u2014 even from those sins buried so deep we don\u2019t know to confess them. Forgiveness in Christ is not an emotion to feel. It is a promise to claim. God can change our trouble into triumph, but how and when He chooses to do so is up to Him. We simply must cling to the promise that He will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paperturn-view.com\/?pid=MTQ14443\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.paperturn-view.com\/?pid=MTQ14443&amp;get_=dbcover&amp;h=300\" alt=\"SwindollStudyBible-John\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Take a look inside the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tyndale.com\/p\/the-swindoll-study-bible-nlt\/9781414387253\">Swindoll Study Bible<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taken from the Swindoll Study Bible &#8220;Then Joshua said to Achan, &#8216;My son, give glory to the&nbsp;Lord, the God of Israel, by telling the truth. Make your confession and tell me what you have done. Don\u2019t hide it from me.&#8217; Achan replied, &#8216;It is true! I have sinned against the&nbsp;Lord, the God of Israel.&nbsp;Among the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44,45,52,53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3679"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5792,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3679\/revisions\/5792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- LIVE: wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com/nlt//wp-json/wp/v2/posts/3679 -->