Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. {comfortably: or, friendly: Heb. to her heart} And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Anchor 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. Hosea 2:14-15

God’s interest is to ensure that not a single one of His is lost and not to destroy them. Achor is a Hebrew word and it means the valley of trouble. The word also comes from the root word from which Achan came. It is the name of the valley where Achan and his entire family were stoned and a heap of stones put upon them.

And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Josh. 7:5-11

It started with what I will call the thrills of victory. Jericho had walls that were so high that people were afraid to take the city but God in a supernatural way had caused the walls to fall down.  The people had gone in, saw the enemy defeated and known the thrills of victory, the fulfillment of the word of God that came unto Noah, that Canaan would be a servant. But in chapter seven, this thrill of victory became the very source of defeat when Israel, a nation under the power of the Most High God had destroyed all the major kingdoms of that time, got defeated by a smaller nation. God allowed this defeat so that the seriousness of the consequences of sin may be very clear to them. Too often, when sin appeals and takes a hold, we feel it can be overlooked. Secondly, there is what we call mutual responsibility -the theory of being your brother’s keeper The sin of one man caused this great nation to fall.

4 things that happened in Joshua 7:

• They took an accursed thing
• They stole
• They dissembled
• They hid

The people saw when Achan was taking the accursed thing and they concealed it so when the punishment came, they were not left out.  I want you to know that you have a responsibility towards your brother and sister, to correct them when they are in error. When I am saying to you, “Don’t do this,” don’t tell me that it’s none of my business. It’s my business because I am linked to you by the same covenant, blood and destiny. Whatever happens to you can have an impact on my destiny.  I have a responsibility towards you and you have a responsibility towards me. It’s not because I hate you or that you hate me but because we are responsible one to another and God has chosen to link us together by the same covenant, except you are saying you don’t belong to that covenant. 

It’s a different thing how I exercise that responsibility. The very act of disobedience brought a curse not only on the man that caused it but upon the entire body that was joined by covenant (Joshua 7:14-19).

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:1-5

The only thing that will make me to be in darkness is that there is a covering that is standing between God and me which is not sin but is making that light not to be while I keep saying I am in fellowship with Him. Sin is bad enough; concealing sin is worse. You tell God that it’s not that I have sinned but I know that I have been polluted, He sure will help you out and light will come again.

A man that is concealing sin is like a man who has an internal bleeding and keeps concealing it while he is dying. When you conceal sin, you forget that there may be a minister from the outside, a helper that is going to put a mending arm and say “I can help you.” When we conceal  sin, we are destroying ourselves.

Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, He knows our pains.  David on his deathbed said “He that rulteth over men, his path must be as a shining light, even though my house wasn’t so, but God has a covenant with me.” A covenant people know they have hope. But you live as though you have no hope. Though the concluding part of David’s life was full of pain and regrets but something gave him hope; he was a covenant child and no mater what, he had hope. Stop hiding, today is the day that God is saying, “I can take the valley of Achor and turn it to a door of hope for you.”

Secret sins are more dangerous to persons in some respects, than open sin. For a man doth by the act of sin deprive himself of the help of his brethren who would have had his wound covered; help does not come because his needs are not described, not known.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” Psalm 32:1-5

The sin which is covered here in Psalm 32 is not by man but by God.  When David sinned God didn’t judge David alone. He was judged with his household.  Even if there’s an ancestral curse in your house, you can break it by refusing to conceal sin because the effect of concealing sin never ends with the man that did it but also takes the family along with it. In 2 Samuel 12:7-13 God said to David “by this thing that you have done, you have given chance to those who want to blaspheme My name. Your kingship that started so well, everybody will know you are a murderer, I won’t kill you but this stigma will be on you forever.” I don’t mean to hunt you for your sin but to have you amend your ways.

Find a trusted friend who will sit with you and pray with you, who will be a watchman over you and tell your shortcomings. Not because your friend is the best but because you can’t help yourself. In the day that Lazarus died, a greater power came and brought him out of the grave. But when he came out, he was still bound. And Jesus said unto those who were around him, loose him. It is those who are around you that will be able to loose your bonds and ensure they see you free.  They will help restore hope to you. If you really understand the things which God has placed in your charge as restorers of hope, then you will know it’s not time to mock those who are down but to stretch forth the hand of a minister and say “Yes, I know this has happened, don’t do it again because its impact will destroy us. But I will help you remove the bonds.”

Yes, the power of the Holy Ghost has brought you out of the grave, the power of the Holy Spirit has set you free but the things that are binding you can only be removed by those who are around you.  it’s not time to hide.  Don’t throw help away.  I’m not shooting at a wounded Christian but bringing to you healing. And you are a part of that healing process to remove the bandage that ties until they (wounded Christian) can walk again.

There is grace, deliverance and hope for every covenant child of God because God is turning the valley of Achor around, but only if you don’t cover your sin but turn to Him in repentance.