“There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.” —1 Corinthians 16:9
𝑫𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒔.
Full of promise and potential pain. Do we dare knock?
Knocking on the proverbial door again with a message burning in my soul, when the doors are closed, I can somehow begin to question my worth. My calling. 𝑴𝒚 . . .
Oh. There’s that word. 𝑴𝒚 oh 𝒎𝒚. Maybe those open or closed doors are not about my gratification as much as they about being faithful to follow God through any door, with joy.
In this life, we knock on doors as we seek to understand the LORD’s direction. And sometimes we really want some doors to open and they don’t.
As much as it hurts, a closed door is an answer. It is not the end. It is an answer to the next direction. But oh how my soul hurts at closure that I did not want. How about you?
Sometimes we can be so discouraged with that closed door that we do not see another one opening.
In the midst of what seems like rejection is a pivot—another direction to go in that is in the will of God. The best place to be. And there are such sweet reminders my heart desperately needs when I stand outside the door and knock, knock, knock:
• Be content with the provision from God. He has given exactly what He intended.
• God’s favor cannot be earned. It is freely given by an all-knowing God.
• I don’t want to strive for what is not mine.
• I don’t want to strive for favor, just obedience and faithfulness and trust the results to Him.
• God is good and places us exactly where we are, for His glory, not ours.
• The motivation for favor cannot be about us. Any door I walk through is for His glory. I am just a servant, knocking on doors to see where He leads.
• I don’t want to love the telling of the message more than the message and the One Who gave the message.
• May His words soak in deeply before I ever share them.
• We get to tell His story, yes, we get to tell. But may our delight be in Jesus above all else.
Don’t regret closed doors. It might be the mercy and grace of God to not give you what you want. The timing could be wrong or He might want to bless us in a greater way so His message can reach somewhere else. Where one door closes, another opens. Will we perceive it?