What to Do When God Closes a Door – Part One
Read Acts 16: 6 – 10
Have you ever had a vision vanish, a dream die, an aspiration expire, or an ambition annulled? Have you ever had your hopes dashed? Has God ever said “NO,” when you wanted Him to say yes?
Has there ever been a time when you thought you were really doing God’s will and God shut and barred every door you desired to have open?
Has there ever been a time when you saw your plan FOLD only to see God’s will UNFOLD?
Sometimes God has to lead us to a closed door in order to create within us a willingness to follow Him to another door, the right one. Barred doors can be a blessing in disguise.
In our text Paul asserted that he wanted to go East toward Asia. He wanted to go to Bithynia for a good reason. He wanted to go preach the gospel. What a noble intent! Notice in verse 6: “…they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit…” God said no. Why? That will be answered in subsequent posts.
God always knows more and has stronger love than we. He can see what we can’t comprehend.
Once we were returning on a flight from the Holy Land. Our route had been moved further north due to an Atlantic storm. We had been flying over nine hours and were ready to land in New York. The pilot then gave us a bonus. Without us asking for or having to pay for it he gave us a one hour tour of Nova Scotia. Around and around we went. Not exactly what we wanted.
More than a little exasperated, I talked with a flight attendant explaining our tight connections in New York and questioning our delay. She explained there was a storm in the New York area. All fights were being held and had been notified of our delay. The reason for the delay was the pilot had knowledge of the danger and was waiting for a window in the weather that permitted him to land. He was exercising caution for our good and arranging for our connections because he wanted us to make it.
He put us in a holding pattern. I didn’t want a holding pattern. He put us in a holding pattern for our good. Why? Because he knew more than we knew and was concerned for our welfare.
Sometimes God puts us in a holding pattern. Why? Because he knows more than we and He wants us to make our connections safely.