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 diligent effort
the counsel of others
and then slam that door shuts
And to make it even more difficult is
The 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 that he is our God and He is our
guide o great Jehovah
Just a pilgrim in a barren land and
And 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 Scottish Essayist Thomas Carlyle 19th century writer
Essayist historian put it this way
When the oak tree is felled 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 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 are 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
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 and unfathomable minds of never failing
Skill he treasures up his bright design and works his sovereign
will
Let it be