When God Closes a Door, Ask Yourself This Question
I sit with a friend and admire the daylilies as they bow low beneath the afternoon sun. I’ve just told her about a recent disappointment, and my heart is heavy. I thought God was leading one way, but the door slammed shut in my face. When God closes a door, it can be hard to know where to turn next.
I’m pondering my situation when my friend asks a hard question:
“Is there a chance you’re trying to turn stones into bread?”
She then shares what she’s been learning about turning stones into bread:
Before Jesus began his public ministry, the Holy Spirit called him into the wilderness. Here, Satan tempted Jesus in three ways. First, he tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread to satisfy his physical hunger. Next, he tempted Jesus to dive from a great height and command the angels to catch him. Last, Satan tempted Jesus to worship him and receive the kingdoms of the world in exchange.
In the first temptation of turning stones into bread, Satan was asking Jesus to use his power in a way that God never ordained. Turning stones to bread would have been self-serving, and Jesus did not come to earth to serve himself.
What does this have to do with us? Perhaps more than we realize.
When God Closes a Door
Some of us have unfulfilled dreams and deferred hopes for our lives. We have visions for different careers, new ministries, and deep desires to come to pass. We have prayed and waited, and we’re tired of waiting.
Turning stones into bread is the act of taking a God-given gift and claiming ownership.
Instead of stewarding the gift, the talent, or the assignment, you decide to force an outcome. Your intentions might be in the right place, but you’re pushing ahead of God’s timing.
Maybe you try to launch the ministry ten years too soon.
Perhaps you try to write the book before it’s time.
Maybe you marry someone who isn’t well-suited for you because you’re tired of waiting on God.
Rest assured that there is no condemnation for trying to turn stones to bread. Our intentions are often good and pure. In our humanness, it is easy to lose sight of God’s direction and take matters into our hands. At these times, closed doors are often God’s greatest gifts to us.
Let’s look at how we can apply this to our lives and explore some practical steps to take when God closes doors.
How to Proceed When God Closes a Door
If God has recently closed a door in your life, I encourage you to take the following steps.
1. Consider whether you’ve been trying to turn stones into bread.
At times, God does call us to take risks. He calls us to step out in faith.
However, if you’ve been stepping out and finding closed doors, it’s time to ask yourself the question my friend asked me:
Am I trying to turn these stones into bread?
We try to turn stones into bread in subtle ways. We try to turn stones into bread when we lose sight of our callings and start to find our identities through our job titles.
Turning stones into bread happens when the business becomes a mission for money-making or for building our own kingdoms, and we lose sight of why we started it in the first place.
We try to turn stones into bread when our dreams to make much of God turn into making much of ourselves. We start to think a little too much about the followers, the fans, and the numbers.
If you’ve been trying to turn stones to bread, rest assured that God is not angry with you. Turn to him and ask him to align your heart with his heart. He will refine your motives and clarify your calling. It might take time to get on the right track with him, but he wants to direct you.
The following steps can help you.
2. Work through your emotions with God.
Let me begin by empathizing with you if God has closed a door in your life.
I have been here. It hurts.
Grieve the loss. Your pain is real, and the Lord wants to minister to your heart. By processing your emotions with him, you move toward healing.
One of the most painful closed doors in my life was a writing job that fell apart after six months of hard work. The door slammed shut in my face, and I felt like a failure. I spent months working through shame, confusion, doubt, and disillusionment.
Ultimately, God showed me that he was protecting me; however, I also had to work through the surrounding emotions.
It might help to share your feelings with a trusted friend or therapist. God wants to help you work through your emotions so that you can move on to the next step.
3. Recognzie this as an opportunity to grow in trust and faith.
You probably don’t understand why this door closed. I invite you to pray a brave prayer. Ask God to help you trust him with what you don’t understand. In doing so, you will grow in trust and faith.
We grow to trust God more by walking through situations in which trusting him feels difficult. Every time you feel tempted to question why God closed this door, ask him to help you grow in trust.
Meanwhile, hold onto this truth: Often, God closes doors in these situations for our protection. It never feels good, but he closes doors out of love for us. Ask him to help you trust that this disappointment is for your protection and your good.
God's closed doors often hurt, but they are also for our protection. #trust #followingGod #disappointment Share on X4. Keep doing what God has set in front of you today.
Processing your emotions with God and growing in trust will take time. Meanwhile, God has placed an assignment in front of you today.
It might not be as exciting as the dream you were pursuing. You might not feel energized or motivated.
Nevertheless, continue to put your whole heart into the work he has set before you today. Today’s assignment is preparing you for the next open door.
As for me, God eventually opened a different door in the aftermath of my disappointment. I realized that I’d been rushing ahead of his timing (albeit, with pure motives), and I learned to slow down and watch for his gentle direction.
The best news is that when the new door opened, it led me to a place that was exponentially better than the first door could have possibly led me.
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