Doors
Many Christians I know use the “God opens and closes door” method when seeking His direction for their lives. Every available opportunity is one that should be taken and every unavailable opportunity is one that shouldn’t be pursued. I have a feeling there is more to following God than this. Perhaps, confirmation is what I think should be our check to be certain of direction by God’s leading versus our self-focused desires. It isn’t a testing of God’s faithfulness to us; rather, waiting for confirmation is the pursuit of His will and the delay of gratification despite our hastiness to arrive at a solution.
I realize that life has been easy for me thus far. There have been few barriers preventing me from getting what I want in life. A few of my friends and I are now in a place of realizing that God is relentless in His desire for us to be within His will. We want to hear His voice and to be confident of His specific leading. But we, who have been and may still be skeptical of the child-like, reckless faith of others, don’t really know what this looks like in practical day-to-day life.
I remember the last time I waited in uncomfortable silence for God to bring clarity was when I sought Him in my decision to become head RA in my last semester at Westmont. I didn’t receive clarity to decide one way or the other, and I still don’t completely know if taking the position was His will. I can see a lot of good that came from serving in this way. And although I do believe the truth of Ephesians 1.11, I’m hesitate to use “God will turn all things for good” as an excuse to not wait upon Him.
Looking back now and remembering the pressure of the four-day span of time I had to decide, I realize that it was silly to expect God to “show up” for a big life decision when I hadn’t been in conversation with Him in prior steps. It is not that He isn’t there and refuses to direct me, but my heart must first be tuned to hear His voice. Our ability to interpret correctly His voice is determined by His Spirit at work in us, by our willingness to keep in step with the Spirit consistently, and to listen to His voice. Guess there is something to be said for practicing God’s presence.
I’ve come to realize that it’s less about the doors that we walk through then it is about the direction we’re going and the condition of our hearts. A preoccupation with doors is bound to get us wrapped up in ourselves again rather than focusing on our transcendent and immanent God.
Would love to hear your thoughts, friend.
Don’t you think that the statement “I’m waiting for God to open doors” often provides an excuse for people to remain in a child-like mindset for their whole adult lives? Rather than taking initiative and being creative, they just wait around for some parent-figure to tell them what to do. Same with financial investing. “Ho, I no need save money, yeah. Bumbye God going provide.” I always hated that.
I really don’t know how I feel about discerning God’s will at this point. I’m attracted to the view that we need to put our full trust in God and try to learn to gain sensitivity to his Spirit and walk and move by his leading. I like that it conveys an attitude of trust and submission. However, I’m also attracted to the view that says that we shouldn’t go through life expecting God to tell us what to do all the time. We don’t need to discern his will for us all the time because he already has– in Scripture. Our responsibility is to conform ourselves to God’s will as revealed in Scripture and gain wisdom and discernment, and this is what guides us through decisions. Express direction and revelation from God is not precluded as a possibility, but it’s also shouldn’t paralyze us by becoming something we expect or demand or feel insecure about if we aren’t receiving it. If we are pursuing righteousness and holiness, then we’re in God’s will.