I have been thinking a lot lately about doors.
Not front doors or back doors, but open doors and closed doors.
Jesus said to a downtrodden but faithful church, “I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.” He added that he “has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.”
So it seems that opening and shutting doors is part of Jesus’ identity and his mission.
The last few months have been undeniably the most restrictive we have ever lived through. Doors all over the world have shut. At the time I write this, we are fighting the Canadian government to get a door open for our daughter’s fiancé to enter the country.
That battle has brought us to the same place many of you are in: we are faced with a closed door, and feeling helpless to do anything about it.
As early as January, I had been teaching on the relationship of the coronavirus to the plagues of Revelation, and on the sovereignty of God over it all. I decided my best strategy was to listen to my own teaching and submit to God rather than fighting him. I was frustrated about doors God had closed, but if he was involved in something far bigger than us, our best option was to go along with it and see where it took us.
In our case, the results were unexpected. When one door closed, others opened. Things happened that would never have taken place. New contacts were made, new things were done, a new book was written and an old one completely revised (both out in September). And much else. And when our daughter Sarah became ill, we knew he had us at home for a purpose.
Many of us have been disappointed about things we have been unable to do, and there is genuine sadness in that. But the best strategy is still the one God led us to. If God has closed a door, there is a reason. And part of the reason is he has other doors to open.
How often do we plan God out of the picture? We make decisions without consulting him. We get angry when our plans are frustrated. We pray but get nowhere, and then decide to blame God.
How much better, when our applecart is upset, to go to God not with an agenda, but with a question: “Lord, what are you adjusting in me?”
We live in a world which is not listening to God. God has a solution: shut the world down so that it starts to hear what he’s saying. And the same applies to the church. Some years ago, an elderly Chinese leader was released from prison and visited America. In response to a question about the American church, he said this: “It’s amazing how much you’ve been able to do… without God.” Ouch!
God is dealing with his people. If you and I come out of all this never having gone to God with the question I posed above, we will have missed what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
You must walk past the closed door or you will never find the one that is open.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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