When God Closes a Door, He Opens a Window—or Does He?
A scrim of periwinkle clouds hangs low in the morning blue. I stand at the window and admire the scene with an aching heart. The thrum of disappointment beats in cadence with my pulse, and I think of an often-repeated adage: “When God closes a door, he opens a window.”
I’m not sure who said this first, but in my experience, it’s not always how life works out.
When God closes a door, it often feels like being locked in a dark room with no clue of where to turn next. I’ve experienced this more than a few times, and I suspect you have, too.
We set our goals and believe God is leading us. We launch out to make our dreams come to life. When our dreams fall apart, we feel crushed and alone.
When God Closes a Door, He Opens a Window?
What have you built that didn’t turn out according to your hopes and plans?
Maybe it was a career, an expectation about what your family would look like by now, or a dream that never quite made it off the ground.
If you’re anything like me, you fixed your eyes on your goal and chased it down with your whole heart. You had expectations about when your dream would come to life, and you told yourself that anything is possible with God. What you really believed was that anything is possible with enough self-effort.
In line with your beliefs, you gave it your whole heart. You invested all you had—and more. When everything fell apart, you scolded yourself for having the boldness to dream in the first place.
Not long ago, I was feeling all of these emotions and thinking all of these thoughts when Jennifer Dukes Lee stopped me in my tracks with these words: “The end product was not the purpose. The purpose was in the process.”
When God Closes a Door, There Was Purpose in the Process
I’d heard some version of Jennifer’s words no less than dozens of times in the past. However, when I read them on a foggy spring morning, I imagined God himself sitting across the table from me and speaking them straight to my heart.
I wonder if you need this reminder, too.
Perhaps you thought you were building a brand, a business, a career, or a ministry. Everything fell apart, and now you wonder if you ever heard from God in the first place.
Perhaps you thought you were building a brand, a business, a career, or a ministry. Everything fell apart, and now you wonder if you ever heard from God in the first place. #disappointment Click To TweetWhat if God is saying, “The outcome wasn’t the purpose. The purpose was in the process. I was doing something within you.”
We miss the purpose in the process when we put all of our energy into trying to kick down God’s closed doors.
Perhaps you feel disappointed today because God closed a door in your life.
Will you stop reading right now and ask him to help you see his purpose for you within the process?
When you’re done talking to God about your situation, here are a few promises to cling to when God closes a door.
Scripture to Cling to When God Closes a Door:
1. God is still in control.
God hasn’t stepped down from his throne. He’s not surprised by what is happening. His arm is not too short to reach down and change your situation at any given moment. Our inability to make sense of what is happening does not indicate God’s absence or his indifference.
The Message translation of the Bible offers a helpful image of what it might look like to pause and recognize God’s sovereignty in uncertain times:
Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything. Psalm 46:10 MSG
2. Your hope is anchored to the One who is still with you.
I like to fix what feels broken in my life. I feel like I have a sense of control over my world when I put broken pieces together again. Sadly, I often put my hope in my ability to fix my circumstances instead of putting my hope in Christ.
Let’s pause to read the words of Hebrews 6:19: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast . . . “
These words remind us that our hope is not in our circumstances. Our hope is in Christ with us right here in the middle of our troubled times.
Consider the role of an anchor for a ship: The anchor pulls the vessel to itself. Christ is our anchor. As we cling to him, he will pull us close.
3. God loves you unconditionally.
When things go awry, do you ever wonder if God still loves you? When we begin to doubt God’s love for us, let’s stand on the promise from Romans 8:38-39:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
4. In times of trouble and heartbreak, God is close to you.
You might not feel like God is close when you are hurting, but this doesn’t change the promise that he is close to the brokenhearted.
Are you feeling crushed? Deflated? Broken-hearted? This is for you: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18
5. Even in times of trouble God surrounds you like a shield.
No matter what happens in the world around you, if you will humble yourself before God and lean on him by faith, he will surround you with favor as with a shield:
For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield. Psalm 5:12
6. When God closes a door, he offers you peace.
I’m thankful Jesus spoke these words:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Jesus directly tells us that life will be hard.
Because Jesus said it, we can expect it. But let’s not get stuck here. We don’t have to live in fear during troubled times. Jesus also promises his peace. There will be tribulation, but let’s not lose heart; Jesus has overcome the world.
~~~
As you wait for God to open the important doors in your life, remember this: He is working in you to prepare you for the greater ministry ahead. He might open a window to a new avenue, or he might keep you in the dark for a season. Either way, he is trustworthy, and he is working in this process.
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