During my summer break, I did ALOT of thinking about a few things concerning my life. As I struggled with some stuff, I just kept sensing the leading of the Holy Spirit concerning this one word --DOORS. So I focused a lot of my time alone and with God studying and mediating on the word DOORS. Through my studying, I learned more than I ever imagined as I combed through the Bible for guidance and instruction. See there are times in which I sense a strong leading from the Holy Spirit to deliver a message to someone else, BUT this time I knew this particular strong leading was directly for me personally.
As time passed and I began to understand the direction I was being led, it never dawned on me that the closing function of a door would end up being the direction I would focus on. So once again, I restarted going back through the Bible and other resources to see how the closing of doors had been applied. Some scriptures were very direct and easy to identify with; whereas, other scriptures were more indirect. By the way, I think it is a good time to let you know right up front that I will not pack tons of scriptures throughout this article, but instead, I'd like to focus more on the impact of how closing doors applies directly to me-- that is if you don't mind me talking a little about myself.
The closing of doors sort of seems more like a negative function. When I think of the word closing, I think of shutting things out, separating, removing oneself, behind, ending something, or final. All of these adjectives are pretty accurate descriptions that most people would use to describe the word closed.
You may have heard of this scripture in the Bible which is found in Revelation 3:8 where Jesus is speaking to the faithful church of Philadelphia which had kept His word and did not deny Him states, "I know thy works: behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." I know the way this is written sounds super, duper holy, but it's pretty straight forward. What I haven't said so far is that closed has an opposite and that word is open. You may have also noticed in the aforementioned scripture that Jesus said he had set before them an open door that nobody could shut. So for me, I imagined if Jesus was saying His opened door couldn't be shut, then that implied that shutting could be interpreted as final, or perhaps shutting could be interpreted as protecting you and I from something that sought to do us harm by closing one thing and opening up something new. So as you can see for every closed action, brings about an open reaction. Now in the context of open, does closed sound so negative? Because like Jesus said if he opens the door, it can't be closed.
So as I continued to do more of my studying and mediating journey, God quickened me about something that I have worked so hard to change over the course of my life but find it leaks back into my life if I don't put it into check which is I needed to stop immediately thinking the worst or so negative about a situation when first confronted just because I might not fully understand everything right away. This, my friend, is the focus of this article which is the goodness of a closed door.
There have been tines where I really wanted something or someone to remain in my life. Matter of fact, their absence in my life was never even considered by me. I just assumed they would carry a permanent status. I assumed that just because I thought I knew them, they would be a forever fixture in my life. Then when I added up all my assumptions, I ended up with a big fat zero. I ended up shocked. I ended up questioning if I had done something wrong. I ended up trying to fix something that really wasn't broken. It's just that all my assuming wasn't in line with God's next step plans for my life.
I know this may sound a little weird, but everything you think that needs to be fixed may not even be broken. Maybe it's by God's design that this closed season has created an open season. I have struggled throughout my life with being too quick in thinking that just because the door has closed, it must be a bad thing. Now that I have grown more in my walk with the Lord, a closed door is just like inserting a comma in a sentence which means it's not finished and more is to come.
When I sit down and really, and I mean really think about it, I don't want anything or anyone that is on the other side of the closed door. I only want things and people who are walking through the door with me as I close it OR are waiting to meet me on the other side. That other side is the open side. Open grants more space, it brings freedom, it can serve as a start or a second chance, it provides a way of escape, and it brings new things and people.
So now after my studying and mediating ended, I don't think of closed as closed, I think of closed as open. I have grown even more in my walk with the Lord to know that a closed door is just like inserting a comma in a sentence which means it's not finished and more is to come.
I thank God for quickening me to cast down that feeling of immediately thinking bad or negative things just because I may not fully understand why He has closed a door in my life. I would much rather have the hand of Jesus on the doorknob as the door is closing, because the new door that He would be opening would not be closed just because someone or something touched the doorknob.
Like me you will have times in your life when you don't understand why God closed a door. I don't want you to question yourself. I don't want you to immediately think the worst. I don't want you to try to pry the closed door back open. I don't want you to do anything that God has not directed you to do. I just want you to keep moving forward. I want you to not rely on other people or things except for your trust in God only. I don't want you to be angry when doors close. I certainly don't want you to blame God, because you don't fully understand His method. At the end of the day, God always, always, always knows what He's doing.
I am so glad that GOD shuts things out. I am so glad that God separate and removes us. I am so glad that God puts things behind us. I am so glad that God ends situations. I am so glad that when God finalizes decisions, no one can overturn His decisions. This, my friend, is the goodness of a closed door.