“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.” – Revelations 3:7 ESV
Closed doors… we hate them… they’re frustrating… heartbreaking… crushing… everything is moving along nicely… you’re feeling great… confidently sure you’re: going to get the dream job or promotion you’ve been waiting for… You’re going to pop the question to your fiancé… You’ve made the offer on the dream home… EVERYONE in the church is praying and you have the confidence that this will go your way… and then: BOOM! CLOSED RIGHT IN YOUR FACE…
“Why Lord…?
We rarely ever get a direct answer however, sometimes “hind-sight is twenty-twenty” they say…
Let’s take a biblical look at doors:
The most important door for us to walk through is JESUS:
“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” – John 10:9 ESV [emphasis added]
Jesus is the door to the Father, NOT just to heaven. His death wasn’t just about saving us from our sins… it was about birthing us into The Father’s Kingdom… to make us His children… to sanctify a new tabernacle not made with human hands fit for Him to indwell….
Now, once we’re saved, we can “go in and out” [speaking of freedom and liberty] and “find pasture” [which speaks of finding rest and spiritual nourishment].
How do I know this? As I have said since the inception of this ministry: “Bible interprets Bible:”
Psalm 23:2 – “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.”
Green pastures… still waters… Here’s another translation that makes it even clearer:
“He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me beside peaceful streams.” – NLT
True rest is found in Jesus… Salvation brings peace with God because all our sins (past, present, and future) are ALL wiped away at the point of salvation:
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” – Romans 5:1 NKJV
You see, you didn’t get saved by something you did… you didn’t earn your way into salvation… no. You were justified by faith… By believing what Jesus did for you on the Cross!
And that justification also sanctified you!
“By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.” – Hebrews 10:10 NASB
Once for all time…
Now, why am I bringing this up and what does this have to do with closed doors?
EVERYTHING!
“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” – Proverbs 14:12
Not just your death… but the death of others who if you had walked that path would never have been blessed with your presence and your testimony…
Hollywood is full of movies of alternate realities and “what if” movies. The most famous to me is “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
George Bailey, the protagonist of the movie, has amazing dreams and goals for his life once he leaves his little town of Bedford Falls, New York. As he grows up circumstances and situations arise that preclude him from fulfilling his dreams. So he gives up on his dreams in order to help his family and his community.
Years later he’s a grown man with a family and many responsibilities until one day his life turns upside down and he wants to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, He wishes he had never lived, and his wish is granted!
Aaah… but now he gets to see the ramifications of that wish as everyone he’s ever loved and helped see their lives completely changed for the worse. At the end of the story he asks God to let him live again and he’s returned to the exact place and time in which he asked for his wish.
So what does that have to do with closed doors, you’re wondering?
Well, George faced many closed doors leading him down the path which positioned him in the perfect place, at the perfect time, to help more people than he dreamed possible. Without those closed doors he would have travelled down a path making it impossible for him to intervene in all those lives. The very closed doors became a blessing to everyone who crossed his path along his journey…
Remember:
“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” – Proverbs 14:12
It may not necessarily mean death for you, but it could mean death for someone else… there’s a plan and a purpose to every aspect of our lives [Jeremiah 29:11]… our responsibility is to trust Him.
Yeah, but you don’t understand what I’m going through…What if every door around me is closed… what if I’m hemmed in on every side… what should do?!?
Remember this [2 Corinthians 4:8]:
8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—
I’ve been there… more often than I care to admit… I couldn’t go forward… I couldn’t move backwards… I couldn’t turn sideways… All I could do was simply stand still… and wait on the Lord…
Wait for Him to speak to me… to comfort me in my misery… to give me direction on what I was supposed to do… and what I discovered, more often than not, was simply…. SILENCE…
As I matured spiritually, I began to realize that He speaks in the SILENCE…
The silence itself IS an answer…
It speaks… and it says:
“I LOVE YOU… I WONT LEAVE YOU… EVER… TRUST ME… REST AND BE STILL IN ME… AND WAIT FOR ME TO MOVE…”
I have come a long way since those days, and I still have much to learn. It’s still not easy; it takes tremendous spiritual and emotional will power to be still and… to wait.
What I practice now is the discipline of listening while I wait: I listen… I look… I determine not to miss any opportunity to be a blessing which comes my way. You see, without the close doors we would never venture down certain paths leading us to people who need…. HOPE.
And Hope, my friends, is something this world sorely needs. Hope can be found only IN Jesus. But in order for the world to have this Hope it must first reside securely and steadfastly IN US.
So, don’t run from the silence… embrace it. Stop staring at the closed doors all around you and… look UP… BE STILL… WAIT FOR HIM TO MOVE. Be a blessing and pour out yourself into others. Water… and you YOURSELF shall be watered in due season.
And remember: There is ONE DOOR that will NEVER close in your face… That is ALWAYS OPEN to you: JESUS. And as a result, you are God’s child. Born of water and spirit. NOT ADOPTED but birthed into His Family…
Take courage, eventually the right door WILL OPEN. If you ready yourself and steady yourself in His love… then when the appointed door opens: YOU’LL BE READY TO WALK THROUGH IT!