Doors! Screened doors, security doors, patio doors, front doors, garage doors – I could go on and on listing all of the many types of doors. Doors are a part of every building. They are a part of most rooms. Their purpose is to either keep the “wanted” in or keep the “unwanted” out! It really doesn’t matter if they are elaborate or plain, as long as they do their job. Proverbs 8:34 says, “Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.” Are you hearing, watching and waiting at the door?
Most of the time when I meditate on doors, I think of the saying, “When one door shuts, open the window” and while that is a comforting idea, I always go back to – “If one door shuts – try it again! Isn’t that what doors are for – to open and shut?” Are you guilty of just giving up when the door slams on your dreams? It takes courage to face that closed door and try it again, but we must remember that we, like Paul, “can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13)
In John 10:9, Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” He is the only entrance into the church. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). In the final book of the Bible, Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). He’s knocking – have you opened that door?
On the other hand, we must shut the door of our hearts to Satan. We know that we are to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8). We must “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7b). We’ve got to shut the door to keep out the devil. Jesus showed us how when He was tempted by the devil in Matthew 4:1-11. Three times He was tempted, and three times He answered with the words, “It is written. . .” (Matthew 4:4, 7, and 10). As the Psalmist said, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Psalms 119:11).
Friends, we must “study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15). We must know when to open the door to our hearts, and we must know when to shut the door to keep the devil out! Oh, how we are simply blessed, Courtney
Sometimes a door has to shut for another one to open.