Thursday's Thought

Prov 3:5-6 (The Message)
Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
   don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
   he's the one who will keep you on track.

We need to learn to praise the Lord as much for a closed door as we do for an open door. The reason God closes doors is because He has not prepared anything over there for us.  If He didn't close the wrong door, we would never find the right door.

God directs our path through the closing and opening of doors.  Once a door closes, it forces you to change your course.  When another door closes, it forces you to change your course again.  Then, finally, you find the open door and you walk right into your blessing.

God directs our paths through the opening and closing of doors, but instead of praising Him for the closed door (which keeps us out of trouble); we get upset because we see with our natural eyes instead of our spiritual ones.  God sees the big picture - the wide angle lens view and the telescopic view all at once.

You have an ever-present help in the time of trouble that is always standing guard over you. Because He walks ahead of you, He can spot trouble down the road and set up a roadblock or detour accordingly.  But through our lack of wisdom, we try to tear down the roadblocks or push past the detour sign.  Then, the minute we get into trouble, we start crying, "God, how could You have done this to me? Where are you?"

We have got to realize that the closed door can be a blessing.  Didn't He say that no good thing would He withhold from them that love Him? (Psalm 84:11)

If you get terminated from your job, praise God for the new opportunities that will manifest themselves: it might be another job, it might be school.

If that man or woman won't return your call, it might not be them, it might be God setting up a roadblock (just let it go).

I recently read about a person who had a bank they had been in business with for many years tell them "No!" to a $10,000 loan. God put it in their spirit to call another bank. That bank gave them $40,000 at a lower interest rate than the first bank was offering.  Thank God for closed doors!

We can sometimes trap ourselves in doubt and discouragement through judging by appearances. Be grateful for the many times our Father has closed doors to us just to open them in the most unexpected places.  The Lord won't always say in spoken words: "Go to the left, now to the right" ...sometimes He will just close the doors that are wrong for you.