A Closer Look at Open and Closed Doors.
Good Morning Friends,
My wife tells me that science now has discovered that we forget things when we walk through a doorway. I cannot explain it but I believe she is right. Maybe that is a good reason to put up mezuzahs at the door of one’s home. I bought a mezuzah for my mom’s door post. It contains scripture from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21. Somehow placing it on the doorpost helps me keep the words on my heart. It might work for you too to help you remember. Here in our hearts they help us to help others to learn to live an abundant life. On our hearts they help us to teach the truth, be relational and to be practical. You see, in life there is the open door of learning doctrine so that we can know better what God wants us to think. There is the open door of the operational will of God, so we might know what God wants us to do. There is also the open door of location or the geographical will of God which is where God wants us to be. With this in mind we take A Closer Look at Open and Closed Doors.
Scripture: So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord.
1 Samuel 1:9 (NKJV)
A week later his disciples were again in the house and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
John 20:26-29 (NRSV)
“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:7-11 (NRSV)
As we too face death we also have reason to bless God for He has given us the fullness of joy in His presence even as death’s door is opened.
Message: As a believer in the Messiah Yeshua, Jesus the Christ, the mezuzah reminds me of the blood of the lamb applied to the mezuzot (doorpost) of the homes of the Hebrews at the time of their deliverance from Egypt. It is about the hope for life. You can read about it in the account of the final plague. Here it seems there is a significance to “doors” beyond the personal one, which reaches to our relationship with God; more properly, how God reaches towards us. Sometimes we experience it in the Charisma of people skilled in sharing the experience of God. I noticed that there is a sort of progression through the Old Testament and into the New that builds this Charisma in the lives of its characters… in their ability to charm, influence, and motivate people. In Exodus the door, marked by the lamb’s blood, is a protection. In Deuteronomy, the people are told to write the story of God’s acts on their doorposts and gates, in order to remember to teach them to their children. Later, speaking through His prophets, the Lord talks about a “door of hope” but also exclaims in anger that doors will be filled with rubble and that the cities will be destroyed. In the New Testament, Jesus tells us to knock at the door, but also warns that the door will someday close and shut out the unprepared. James warns us that the Judge is at the door. We do not have forever to decide. And finally, in Revelations, it is He who knocks at our doors, and waits for us to let Him in. This morning I am meditating about the spiritual doors of life and this process of deciding whether or not to walk through them. So what are we to do when we are confronted with an open door? How do we handle a closed door? Who controls the doors of life, us or the Lord? I believe what the Bible reveals about the doors of life can help us all in our walk with Him and who is responsible for the doors of life. The open and shut doors of our lives have the ability to change the course of our lives. In Acts 12:1-17 Simon Peter was in prison and scheduled to die the next morning. God sent and angel and opened the doors of liberty for him. The doors of the prison opened, the gates of the city opened, but when he arrived at the house where the church was praying for his release, Peter found the door shut! These doors changed Peter’s life! In Acts 16:6-10, Paul experienced the agony of two closed doors that led him to God’s open door of ministry. These doors changed the direction of Paul’s life and the course of world history! There is more to understanding doors but part of it, and of this I am sure is, is that we are to have a certain but unusual confidence, authenticity, vision, and calmness, and assertiveness that honors God when we come to them.
Pray that our prayers become a daily practice that moves us closer to God, opening up our experience of Him. Pray that we praise God for opening our eyes, for giving us the Holy Spirit, for giving us spiritual sight to help those who need a hand up out of the darkness. Pray we discover that hospitality is more about opening up our hearts than our homes.
Pray we realize that we are indebted to Jesus for opening a door that had been locked. Pray Jesus opens the door of scripture- the book of life. Pray we understand that not all the Holy Spirit permits is the will of God. Pray we wait at wisdom’s doorpost eager for instruction. Pray we know the Doorkeeper! Pray we are openers of the right doors.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 