How To Open A Closed Door

I hate to make extra trips back and forth from the car. So I have a tendency to load up with a little more than I should probably carry. At the grocery store, I would rather not be hassled with taking a cart out into the parking lot. So, if at all possible, I’ll just load up all those grocery bags in my arms and start walking. It’s then that I especially appreciate a particular convenience that many stores have – those doors that open automatically, without you even having to touch them. Well, you do have to do something – you have to walk toward those doors. That’s when they open.

Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “How to Open a Closed Door.”

Interestingly enough, the way you get that automatic door to open is often the way to get God to open a door for you. You have to start moving in that direction. You have to start walking toward it before it will open.

One classic illustration of that is in the Jews’ crossing of the Jordan River in our word for today from the Word of God in Joshua 3. It’s time to finally enter the land that God has promised to them. But in between them and where God has told them to go is this river, at flood stage yet. The priests are supposed to lead the way, and there’s no bridge. Beginning in verse 8, God says, “Tell the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ … The priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.”

If I’m one of those priests, I’m saying, “How about this idea, Lord? You part the waters, and then I’ll step in.” God says, “No, you step in, and I’ll part the waters.” He’s been saying that to His followers ever since. Jesus was ready to change water into wine at a wedding, if the servants would collect the waterpots and fill them with water. Jesus was ready to miraculously feed 5,000 people, if the disciples would have enough faith to at least find a lunch and get everyone organized for a picnic that did not yet exist. Jesus planned to raise Lazarus from the dead, but he first expected the men to roll the stone away from the tomb. God responds to our faith and our obedience.

God has been talking to you about something He wants to do in your family, in your finances, in a life He wants to touch through you, with a change He’s been leading you to make. Somewhere in your life there seems to be a closed door standing between you and something God wants you to do. You’ve been waiting for God to do something. But He’s waiting for you to do something – to start walking in the direction of where you believe He wants you to go … even if there’s a closed door or a flooded river in front of you. That’s His problem. Your problem is to get moving in the direction He’s leading!

Now, if you’ve been looking for more leading from God, remember the way to discover what you need to know about God’s will is to do what you already know is His will. You can’t get anywhere as long you’re staying in neutral. You’ve got to shift into forward gear. All the “yeah, buts” – “Yeah, Lord, but what if…?” – all those “yeah, buts” are God’s problem. Start walking toward that door – that’s when it’s going to open!

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