What do you do when God closes the door on something good that you had in your heart to do
for him you had a great idea and good and Godly people gave you encouragement to press forward
with it you felt sure now if I do this this will really be for the glory of God but very simply it
didn't work out and as if that was not bad enough someone else is doing exactly what you hoped
you might do and it's a little difficult for you when you see that God is blessing them
with such great success or you train for a particular career but after all that you
have invested in this preparation and in this training for some reason that you cannot explain
the door simply does not open up for you you you have asked God to open the way and it remains
a mystery for some reason the door to what you thought was your path uh turns out to be closed
as years pass it may be some of the experience of looking back wistfully on what might have
been there were certain aspirations in earlier years that were in your heart but as time goes on
they seem to be getting further away and you wonder why did God close the door on
good things that were in my heart you wanted to marry you wanted to have children you wanted to
reach a certain place in your career you wanted to gain a place on a particular team
perhaps or to succeed in some particular area or sphere of ministry and and the hard thing is
that God has given this blessing to others why did he not give that blessing to you
now the obvious question is why did God say no
and it's a real question when God says no to something good that you want to do
why did God say no we don't find it easy to live with the mystery of God's providence
this is important because when something good is on your heart
and the door closes you may very well find well it must be that I've done something wrong that
may be your first instinct and you may feel that God somehow has it in for you that he
doesn't love you after all that he's closed the door on something good that you wanted to offer
to him why did God give the blessing the opportunity
and the work that you would have loved to do and he gave it to someone else
and how will you respond when what you would really like to do turns out not to be God's plan
for you when God says no when something that's in your heart
proves not to be the door that he opens for you your faith is going to be tested
what to you may be a great disappointment in your life may actually open the way
for something greater that God is calling you to do but we dare not hold on to I want to do
this for you o Lord when he's saying to you well I actually want you to give me something else
in all the joy of what you get to do for Jesus don't let your joy lie
in what you do for Jesus let your joy lie in what Jesus does for you
otherwise you will be distraught when disappointment comes
and when he closes a door that you thought he would open
we love open doors but we don't like closed doors but what do we with closed doors
that what do we do we trust him and we keep walking in faith and say Lord this isn't how
I wanted it this isn't how I planned on it this isn't what I thought would be but I'm going to
trust you with this because here's the deal you and I don't know why and we don't know what's next
we don't know why and we don't know what's next but God does and if we'll trust him to be our
shepherd then he'll lead us and we can trust him even when things don't go real well for us
when someone closes a door in your face all you have to remember is when God
allows them to close the door in your face all God wants you to do is walk up the hall
it's some more doors you just got to walk up the hall cause I can promise
you he got a better door that he wants you to go through than one that got shut in your face
that's a fact that's a fact but what happened to people is they stand there beating on the door
the door is closed for a reason because God just wants you to walk up the hall
because he got another door it's bigger and when you open and get behind you ain't gonna believe
what's back there but you will never get to it if you stand in front of that door crying God is
the creator of all doors man I'm just gonna see what else he got for me I only worry about that
sometimes God shuts a door for my protection
and you think it's a bad thing that you lost your job or something went sideways but God
shuts the door sometimes for your protection it doesn't feel good but it's for your protection you
might have gotten fired but you don't know why you got fired and it doesn't even make sense but God
had a bigger plan but God knows how to shut doors to protect you and God knows how to open doors to
to to bless you sometimes God removes a harmful person from your life for your protection
because God has a bigger plan a better idea and a greater door for your life he often shuts the door
for your protection in the walk of faith there is a sound that is impossible for us to get used to
it often comes abruptly and it always happens surprisingly it's inaudible but it is powerful
and most of us can name specific places and times in our lives when we heard that sound
and I'm referring to the sound that occurs when God closes a
door the thing that makes it so difficult is that we usually misinterpret that sound
it often comes on the heels of strong commitment to obedience
being filled with the spirit going through a season of prayer often over weeks of time
followed by hard work and diligent effort the counsel of others and then slam that door shuts
and to make it even more difficult is that following the closing of the door there is silence
deafening silence God's silence where are you God
times like that we are humbly reminded that he is the potter and we are the clay he is the master
we are the servant we say we willingly bow before him and he is our God and he is our
guide o great Jehovah just a pilgrim in a barren land and I'm I'm moving toward the goal of
honoring you and serving you and now this to make it even more difficult
God does not tell us why certainly not then God rarely if ever explains
why one thing is for sure when that door closes we do not think at that moment this is going to
lead me to something better the uh Scottish essayist Thomas Carlisle 19th century writer
essayist historian put it this way when the oak tree is filled the whole forest echoes with it
but a hundred acorns are planted silently by some unnoticed breeze
when the door slams on our face we don't think that poetically all we can hear is the falling of
our oak and the the thud as it hits the forest destroying our dream our hope our anticipation
we don't think at that moment that there are some acorns being
whisked away and blown to a place that will grow and bear fruit for God's glory through an open
door at a time like this when the door closes and some of you have had one close recently
that's when great theology needs to kick in and two great truths come to our rescue
the first truth is that God is sovereign Daniel 4 35 all the inhabitants of the earth or is nothing
and he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and
no one can ward off his hand or say to him what are you doing the Psalmist put it this way in 115
3 our God is in the heavens he does whatever he pleases sort of point blank in your face
I'm in charge the other great truth is that God's plan is profound and often to us very strange
Revelation 3 7 tells us he is the one who opens and no one closes he closes and no one opens and
there's no explanation following that statement you feel like a failure you feel like you uh
were poor in planning you weren't sensitive to the Holy Spirit none of the above is true God
closed the door but we're not ready to understand closed doors we like open doors especially when
we're not told why they closed remember God is sovereign and God's plan is profound and often
so strange get on past the closed doors there's something great to be reaped by going
to the open ones since God is sovereign he is in full control on both sides of any door being in
full control God takes full responsibility for the results the closing of a good opportunity occurs
in order to lead us to an even better one not until you walk through the open door and look back
you realize the necessity of the other doors being closed
I have no idea what closed doors you are living with for all I know you are going
through self-loathing and blame or even worse you may be blaming someone else because a door closed
because I don't know which one to speak to directly I speak to all of you and say
let it be let the oak fall
let the acorns scatter
God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform
he plants his footstep on the sea and rides upon the storm deep in unfathomable minds
of never failing skill he treasures up his bright design and works his sovereign will
let it be