After all that Israel has done one might expect that God would just abandon her forever, a complete write-off. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead He is going to allure her into the wilderness. He would lead her to a place where all the things she was trusting in were stripped away. There can be times in our lives when it seems that God it taking everything away from us. If He is doing this it is so that the only one we can turn to is the Lord Himself. Then He will speak tenderly to us.
This place of having everything stripped away, a place where we seem to be abandoned and without hope, seems like a valley of trouble (Achor means trouble), but in reality it is a valley of hope. For when we turn to the Lord restoration comes.
This all started with God calling her "loved" and "my people" (2:1). Now Israel will call God "my husband". It starts with God taking the initiative, and it results in a change in heart in the people. See how they change from calling God "my master" to "my husband". How do we view God? Is He just a strict master, a boss who we want to avoid, or just to make sure we keep out of trouble with? Or is He someone who we know loves us deeply, and whom we love in return? Our answer to this affects our whole approach to life. We start to get things wrong when we forget that God actually loves us.
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