God Opens Doors: Find Them, and Walk Through Them

I am sure you know the saying “when one door closes, another opens”. It sounds like something people say to make it easier for one to accept that “one door” and probably the only door they have had for a while, is closed. Well, I believe it is true especially for believers in Christ. It is very unusual for a major door to shut for a believer and God not have another door opened. All we need to do is find this new door and walk through it. The problem with some of the doors God opens is that they are often “window size doors” which may be incomparable in size to the ones that shut. As my Pastor would say, “wisdom is to go through the little door that would most likely lead to a much bigger one” which would remain unreachable until one goes through the little door. A number of believers are stuck for looking out for big doors. We often assume God will not open a door smaller than or even same size as the closed one. Unfortunately, it is often not so. Perchance, the journey from the window size door to the big door may expose us to that process we need to keep going forward. My point is “Ignore the size of the door and go through.” Great miracles are born in mangers sometimes.

Ruth 2: 11 & 15 “Boaz replied ‘But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers… when Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her, and pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don’t give her a hard time.”

Ruth was humble. She started out gleaning like the others but before long, had barley left deliberately for her. What if she hadn’t gone out to glean because it was too low a job for her? Pride, which God opposes anyway, is a major stumbling block to believers. It prevents us in various ways, from enjoying all the goodness God has laid out for us. Sometimes it does this by ensuring we choose the losers package which is often more attractive; God’s best gifts sometimes come in tiny sizes making them too small for “our big egos”. Worse is the fact that it also disconnects between God and us so we are unable to see from God’s perspective or enjoy His grace. This either leads to frustration or discontentment and finally, murmuring and complaining pushing God even further away. Until that wrong attitude of mind is changed, one suffers when God already laid out good which remains unreachable, for pride.  

James 4: 6 “And he gives grace generously. As the scriptures say, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

I sometimes think it may be easier for successful people to be humble. They should not feel the need to prove any point. I see a lot of people who seem to be going through “temporary difficulties” struggling with pride. They desperately want people to think they are doing great when they really are not. Sadly, very often, the people they think are watching them don’t even see them. They are themselves very busy trying to resolve their issues. Meanwhile, God is ever willing to help if and when we humble ourselves. He will restore us also. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes to get to the top of the next mountain which may be much higher than the last one you were on, it may be compulsory to walk through a valley. Walk in humility and listen out for our Shepherd who guides us through the journey to the next mountain. Too many believers are wandering in the valley who ought to be at the top of a mountain. If Ruth didn’t take the lowly gleaning job, she would never have ended up in the lineage of Jesus Christ and we would not be talking about her today. It was not the most convenient thing but her attitude was right from the

Ecclesiastes 10: 18b “idleness leads to a leaky house.”

Another sad thing is many of us try to anesthetize the pain from the valley experience but it fails. Instead of investing energy in making it less painful, we could leave that to God and invest all our energy in going forward instead. We can’t see clearly or hear correctly when in the valley if we are also focused on making the pain feel better or hiding it from others. Our Shepherd is managing the pain as it should be and if any pain seems outside of His care, He allowed it to build us up for the next level. The shame of returning with nothing made Naomi call herself “bitter”. She already felt “put down” when God had not put her down. She wanted to ‘say it’ before someone else tells her. The truth she had forgotten is that a chain of bad occurrences never determine your life’s destination except you allow that. Only you and God have the power to determine that and God’s plans for us are always good to bring us to a glorious end. 

Mathew 18: 18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

Jeremiah 29: 11 “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”