Options: When to Open & Close Doors in Life

I have been working with a client for the past three years to get his business ready to sell. He has owned this business for over 30 years, and it is one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the Midwest. But now as the door on that part of his life closes, he is having high anxiety over the next door opening. We have prepared a detailed plan for the new business including three years of detailed budgets and cash flow, and we have spent hours praying for God’s direction—he wants to be confident that this is the direction that God wants him to go. So, what is the problem? Well to quote him, “I am not sure that this is the right door to open. I have always been certain of my steps and which doors to open. Now I am kind of feeling like I am playing hide and seek. Like God has hidden the right door and I am seeking it.”

When my grandsons were seven and four, they enjoyed playing hide and seek. The seven-year-old could find absolutely amazing places to hide in my home. Places where it would take us a long time to find him. The youngest could find good hiding places but he usually gave himself away. He started to giggle when I walked into the room.

Not long ago I stumbled upon a hilarious YouTube video of children playing hide and seek. One little boy thought hiding under a blanket in the middle of the kitchen floor was a great idea. Another little girl crawled under a rug unaware that there was quite a hump showing! Another put a lamp shade on his head assuming that his body looked like a lamp stand.

God must look at our attempts to hide from him with amusement. The fact is that we cannot run away—He fills heaven and earth! Scripture tells us, “Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?” When Jonah ran from God, God sent a storm after him. There was no place for him to go where God could not see him. Doesn’t that show just how much He loves us? The good news is even when we move away from God’s presence, we can be assured that He will find us. Not only can we not hide from him, but we can also not hide anything from him. Yes, there are times when we feel like running away from him but at those times, we need to claim our privilege as children of God and approach His throne of grace.

My youngest grandson often hides behind a door leading into a room. Honestly, it could be a good hiding place because we tend to look in the room that we walk into and not behind the door. But when he knows that you are in the room he can’t help himself, he starts giggling. My older sister told me about a radio show that she listened to growing up called “Nothing Behind Closed Doors." In one story, three men climbed to the top of a mountain to break into a creepy looking little house near an observatory. Inside the house they found a sealed door. Thinking that there was treasure behind that door they broke into it. That door went to nowhere! Behind it was nothing but emptiness. She said, "That was so creepy it left me almost feeling as if there was emptiness in human existence."

Likewise, open doors are not always God’s doors, especially when we force them open. Some opportunities lead nowhere. Behind them we find only disappointment, regret and hollowness. As we go through life we see many doors, but unless God is leading us to them and through them they may lead us nowhere. The key is for us to let God open the right doors for us. We need to not turn aside to other doors or opportunities. Scripture tells us, “Do not turn aside, for then you would go after empty things which cannot benefit us and which are nothing.” But I have found that when God allows one door to close it may be because He has prepared to open a more effective door. I have a plaque in my home that says, “If God leads you to it, He will lead you through it.” That has certainly been true in my life.

My client is not forcing open the next door. If that were the case, it might be the wrong door. Sometimes God gives us signs that it is the right door—He almost giggles as we get close to the door! Yesterday, someone that my client knows and respects who was in the same industry in the eastern part of the country reached out. He said, "I heard that you are selling your business. Congratulations." Then he said, "You know, you should start a XXXXX business. Your expertise would translate right into it. I stared one out here three years ago and it is going very well." Amazing, right? It was the same type of business we have been working on!

My client called me this morning and left a message to tell me about the conversation and to tell me that he is ready to open the door to his new career.

Do you think God sent him a messenger?

Do you think He opened the door?

Do you think God giggled? I do!

Are there doors in your life that need to be opened?