Closed Doors

What are your plans for the summer?  What are you going to do in College? What are you going to do with your life? Who do you want to be? I have been asked those questions so many times over the past year, and I am sure that many of you can relate. Everyone wants where you are headed and what you are going to be doing in your future. When you are unsure of where you are headed in the future it is hard to answer those questions. You don’t want people to think that you are just wondering aimlessly through life.  I came to a point a few months ago where I had no idea where I was headed. I thought I knew where I wanted to go, but God had closed several doors.  Proverbs 16:9 says “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” I had planned my course, but God had a different plan for me. 

When God closes a door on something that you have been working toward for a long time it can be very challenging. Feelings of anger and frustration can arise. We like to think that we know better than God on what is best for us. When there are closed doors we have the opportunity to trust God more. We can change our head knowledge of God being sovereign to heart knowledge. When people have doors closed on them they come to a point where they say “If I just knew God’s will for my life everything would be so much easier and I wouldn’t have problems deciding what to do next.” 

Francis Chan in his book ‘Forgotten God’ gives an excellent view on God’s will for our lives. He writes, “I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God cares more about our response to his Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions. It is easy to use the phrase ‘God’s will for my life’ as an excuse for inaction or even disobedience. It’s much less demanding to think about God’s will for your future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do in the next ten minutes. It’s safer to commit to following him someday instead of this day. To be honest I believe part of the desire to ‘know God’s will for my life’ is birthed in fear and results in paralysis….God wants us to listen to his Spirit on a daily basis, and even throughout the day, as difficult and as stretching moments arise, and in the midst of the mundane. My hope is that instead of searching for ‘God’s will for my life,’ each of us would learn to seek hard after ‘the Spirit’s leading in my life today.”

After several months of searching and many closed doors, I finally came to a point where I needed to trust God and be content with where I am at. This doesn’t mean I have stopped seeking God on where I should be, but until He opens something else for me I need to be faithful with what He has given me. 

I think about the parable that Jesus told about the bags of gold. Matthew 25:14-21 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.  After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!” 

In the beginning of the story it says that the master gave to each servant ‘According to his ability’.  The master knows the servants personally and he knows their ability to be trusted.  The servant with five pieces of gold returned five more. The master saw that he was faithful with small things and therefore he gave him more responsibility (opened a door).  When doors are closed it gives us a chance to reflect on whether we are being faithful with what God has given us at the moment. Praise God for open doors and new opportunities, but also praise Him for closed doors and the opportunity to learn to trust Him more.