In the Hallway

 

We might have heard the saying “If God closes a door, he opens a window.” That isn’t a biblical statement, but it is an understanding that has roots in scripture.

Closed doors actually come up quite a bit in the bible. We actually see closed doors as a topic in the resurrection narrative. Jesus’ disciples were hiding behind closed, locked doors in an upper room for fear of death.

Jesus enters this locked up room to speak to his disciples and his first words are “peace be with you”. He’s speaking in direct contrast to the actually emotion they're feeling. The opposite of peace is fear.

And what we realize is that the door in no way impeded Jesus’ entry into their lives.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” – John 20:19

 

We like doors when we can close them, but not so much when they get closed on us.

 

Although that upper room scripture might have been one of the more memorable closed doors in the bible, it wasn’t the first.

We might recall a certain garden gate of sorts being shut and guarded by an angel back in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve sin and are banished from their home in paradise.

 

Sometimes closed doors in the bible signify shame or fear, but there are other messages within the grain of those closed doors.

 

Closed doors aren’t always locked. What does that mean? It means that although God is not allowing you to go through a certain door now, it may be open in the future. A closed door isn’t always a “no”, but a “not now”.

 

A closed door is not always the end of the story either. I preached this weekend about how the Apostle Paul never planned on going to Philippi. He was planning on heading in a different direction, but God kept closing doors until the one-way Paul could go was evident.

 

Sometimes the only way for God to guide us, is through the process of elimination. A “herding” of sorts. Remember…we are referred to as sheep!

 

We often decide that an impasse is the end of our story or plan. We see that Gods people thought that, as they ran from Pharaoh and Egyptian slavery, only to find themselves at the edge of the Red Sea with nowhere to turn. That’s a closed door if ever there was one.

 

Or was it? What did God do? He parted that sea! That wasn’t an option his people even imagined! All they saw was a raging ocean.

All we see at times is a closed door.

 

“Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land.  So, the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side!” -Exodus 14:21-22

 

Maybe Gods not closing doors to send you in a different direction. Maybe Gods just asking you to wait in the hallway.

 

I have a great little wooden sign in my office. It has a tiny door knob on it and it reads:

 

“Until God opens the next door, praise him in the hallway.”

 

We can talk all day long about how and why God closes or opens doors, but I think we might be missing the point.

 

It’s not so much about those closed or open doors in our life, as it is about what we are doing in the hallway.

 

Do we praise God before stepping through the next door? Do we praise God when he turns the knob and ushers us into a new and exciting season of our life? Do we praise God as he unlocks difficulties and obstacles?

 

But most of all…….do we praise God in the hallway, when all the doors seem closed?

 

The first thing Gods people did when they were cornered between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea was complain.

 

“As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said “leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. Its better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!”

-Exodus 14:10-12

 

We might say “Wow, that’s pretty harsh and ungrateful! The second these people don’t have a path in front of them they give up on God all together!”

 

But…don’t we sometimes do that in our hallway moments? Don’t we sometimes look around at the closed doors and get frustrated, maybe even angry?

 

Where are you, Lord? Now what Lord? Why another closed-door Lord?

 

I know I’ve had those hallway moments in my life.

 

It’s in those moments that I try to remember that He parted the sea.

He didn’t part it ahead of time while they were still a mile away. He didn’t part it while the Egyptian army was far off in the distance. He parted it in his time.

 

Never underestimate your hallway moments. They may be in your life to give you time to grow, protect you or redirect you.

 

God doesn’t always open doors for us ahead of time or while we’re heading towards them. He opens them on his time for reasons we might never understand.

Possibly to protect us from forging ahead before we’re ready. Perhaps to turn us in another direction.

 

But maybe simply, so that we’ll praise him in the hallway.

 

-Pastor Patti