[Rev 3:8] “…He is who is holy who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens.”
Earlier this week Brenda dropped me off at my office early one afternoon. As she rounded the corner turning onto Main Street, I reached into my pocket and could not finger my keys to get in the front door. I hurriedly reached in the other pocket and did not discover the keys in that pocket either.
My next reaction was to grab my cell phone and call Brenda before she got too far away. When I pulled it out it was turned off which I thought was odd. I tried to turn the phone on only to discover the battery was dead. I was stranded out on the front porch of our offices with no keys, no phone, and no transportation. I was locked out! Nobody was in the offices either. I wasn’t too concerned because I had a great book in hand and I knew that sooner or later someone would show up. Two men next door thought I had lost my mind when they saw me seated on the front porch on the deck reading. They asked me if I had been in time out.
There have been many times in my life when the Lord seemed to lock a door to me. We often talk about discovering God’s will for our lives in terms of God opening or God shutting a door. As I grew bored reading I began contemplating locked doors. I am grateful for many locked doors in my life that would have most certainly brought me heartache.
There was the locked door on a relationship with a girl I dated for five years. While in college I thought I would marry that girl but God had other plans. That door was locked and I met Brenda and have not looked back. She has been a door God opened in my life that no man could shut. She has been my best friend, my confidant, my closest companion, and the one person I would rather spend time with more than anyone on this earth. We often eat breakfast and lunch together most every day of the week. I just enjoy being with her and her contribution to my life, ministry, and children are incalculable. If you have never gotten to know her you should. She enriches the lives of those who get to know her. I am grateful for a locked door on a five year relationship and God opening a door to a relationship with her which I have enjoyed being her husband for nearly eighteen years. The boys and I often refer to her as the “Queen” or the “First Lady of Paradise.” Right before I sat down to write this I walked through the kitchen where she was busy preparing a meal before our Friday night “family movie night.” I strolled up to her and gave her a hug and a little kiss just to say, “I love you all over again.”
There have also been some locked doors on churches that I thought we would serve. I am mainly thinking of two churches, one in Tyler and one in Odessa. I thought we would go to each of those towns but God intervened and locked the doors. In hindsight I am grateful for His sovereign protection for both of those churches were extremely troubled and I was spared much heartache and trouble by not being the pastor of either one. God often does that you know. He shuts doors to protect us. He locks them up tight to save us from a great deal of pain and misery. God instead opened the door for my family to come to Paradise. What a blessing this community and First Baptist Church have been to my family.
In our foolishness we still try to open doors that God has locked tight. If we ever do pry them open in our own strength, we usually live to regret it. Why can’t we simply trust that when God shuts a door there is a reason for it and what He does and locks He does for our best interest? That is why some relationships end just when people are ready to dive in deep. That is why some job opportunities do not pan out. That is why some deals never materialize. That is why some whims and desires never come to pass.
In the same way that God can lock a door He can also open some doors that seemed to be shut to us. He provides opportunities, orchestrates circumstances, and leads us to the thresholds of prospects we might not have ever sought out in our own wisdom. God is continually locking doors and opening doors. Shutting and unbolting.
Let me conclude with a few questions. What doors is He locking in your life? Are you listening? Are you getting the message that as He closes and locks doors He trying to protect you from pain and misery? On the other hand, what doors is God opening for you? What new opportunities are on the horizon and what doorway of adventure is the Lord calling you to walk through. I am grateful for the locked doors in my life as well as the ones God has opened.
Next time, I will check my pockets before Brenda drives off. I sat on the porch for nearly an hour and a half. The breeze was blowing swiftly and soon I actually drifted off to sleep in perfect peace. Eventually a family from our church came by the office and gave me a ride a home. If each of us could face locked doors and open doors with the same peace I had on that porch as I drifted off to sleep in perfect trust that it will all work out, maybe we could sleep better at night and live with less stress during the day.
Earlier this week Brenda dropped me off at my office early one afternoon. As she rounded the corner turning onto Main Street, I reached into my pocket and could not finger my keys to get in the front door. I hurriedly reached in the other pocket and did not discover the keys in that pocket either.
My next reaction was to grab my cell phone and call Brenda before she got too far away. When I pulled it out it was turned off which I thought was odd. I tried to turn the phone on only to discover the battery was dead. I was stranded out on the front porch of our offices with no keys, no phone, and no transportation. I was locked out! Nobody was in the offices either. I wasn’t too concerned because I had a great book in hand and I knew that sooner or later someone would show up. Two men next door thought I had lost my mind when they saw me seated on the front porch on the deck reading. They asked me if I had been in time out.
There have been many times in my life when the Lord seemed to lock a door to me. We often talk about discovering God’s will for our lives in terms of God opening or God shutting a door. As I grew bored reading I began contemplating locked doors. I am grateful for many locked doors in my life that would have most certainly brought me heartache.
There was the locked door on a relationship with a girl I dated for five years. While in college I thought I would marry that girl but God had other plans. That door was locked and I met Brenda and have not looked back. She has been a door God opened in my life that no man could shut. She has been my best friend, my confidant, my closest companion, and the one person I would rather spend time with more than anyone on this earth. We often eat breakfast and lunch together most every day of the week. I just enjoy being with her and her contribution to my life, ministry, and children are incalculable. If you have never gotten to know her you should. She enriches the lives of those who get to know her. I am grateful for a locked door on a five year relationship and God opening a door to a relationship with her which I have enjoyed being her husband for nearly eighteen years. The boys and I often refer to her as the “Queen” or the “First Lady of Paradise.” Right before I sat down to write this I walked through the kitchen where she was busy preparing a meal before our Friday night “family movie night.” I strolled up to her and gave her a hug and a little kiss just to say, “I love you all over again.”
There have also been some locked doors on churches that I thought we would serve. I am mainly thinking of two churches, one in Tyler and one in Odessa. I thought we would go to each of those towns but God intervened and locked the doors. In hindsight I am grateful for His sovereign protection for both of those churches were extremely troubled and I was spared much heartache and trouble by not being the pastor of either one. God often does that you know. He shuts doors to protect us. He locks them up tight to save us from a great deal of pain and misery. God instead opened the door for my family to come to Paradise. What a blessing this community and First Baptist Church have been to my family.
In our foolishness we still try to open doors that God has locked tight. If we ever do pry them open in our own strength, we usually live to regret it. Why can’t we simply trust that when God shuts a door there is a reason for it and what He does and locks He does for our best interest? That is why some relationships end just when people are ready to dive in deep. That is why some job opportunities do not pan out. That is why some deals never materialize. That is why some whims and desires never come to pass.
In the same way that God can lock a door He can also open some doors that seemed to be shut to us. He provides opportunities, orchestrates circumstances, and leads us to the thresholds of prospects we might not have ever sought out in our own wisdom. God is continually locking doors and opening doors. Shutting and unbolting.
Let me conclude with a few questions. What doors is He locking in your life? Are you listening? Are you getting the message that as He closes and locks doors He trying to protect you from pain and misery? On the other hand, what doors is God opening for you? What new opportunities are on the horizon and what doorway of adventure is the Lord calling you to walk through. I am grateful for the locked doors in my life as well as the ones God has opened.
Next time, I will check my pockets before Brenda drives off. I sat on the porch for nearly an hour and a half. The breeze was blowing swiftly and soon I actually drifted off to sleep in perfect peace. Eventually a family from our church came by the office and gave me a ride a home. If each of us could face locked doors and open doors with the same peace I had on that porch as I drifted off to sleep in perfect trust that it will all work out, maybe we could sleep better at night and live with less stress during the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment