Open to Obedience

Last week I thought I heard a door close. Veeeery softly. Something I'd been wanting, something I thought was sure to happen didn't. The voice on the other end of the line simply faded into cellular oblivion. 

I was disappointed.

Yesterday I heard a door SLAM! It was a big noise. The thing I wanted so badly, the thing I'd worked so hard to bring to fruition was not to be. 

I was angry.

This morning God awakened me early. There was a restlessness. Staring at the darkened windows, wondering if God would allow me to close my eyes for a few more hours. Nope. He had something to say. So, down the stairs I went. 

What did I ask you to do? He queried.

Immediately I knew where He was going with this. I knew what He had said, three simple words. I repeated them back to Him.

Did you do them?

I hadn't. He knew it. I knew it. I answered honestly.

Then you know why I shut those doors.

And I did. God was shutting doors because I wasn't obeying. God was shutting doors because I was taking matters into my own hands when I should have been trusting Him. God was shutting doors because I was working my own plan instead of following His plan. God was shutting doors because I was allowing the cries of my own fears to drown out the peaceful lullaby of His faithfulness. God was shutting doors because I was stepping on His toes, trying to do His job, and robbing Him of His glory. 

The same merciful God who cast Adam and Eve from the garden to protect them from living forever in their sinful condition, shuts doors for us, too. To protect us from failure. To protect us from following paths of self-adoration and self-sufficiency. To protect us from disobedience. To protect us from listening to the lies of fear. To give us a greater good and a role in establishing His glory. To turn us toward a place He has prepared for us, where we will see doors begin to open.