When God Closes a Door
I've been thinking about the expression "When God closes a door, He opens a window." It is meant to comfort the frustrated, to assure that just because you aren't able to go or do the thing you had anticipated, God still has a plan for you.
Yadda, yadda, yadda.
Perhaps it is because the language purist and individualist that I am resents having a cliche applied to my life. Or that I am an over-literalist and the analogy of having a door closed on me and then trying to find a window that I don't mind climbing in, seems a waste of time and energy. It reminds me of one super stellar housesitting gig I accomplished where I locked myself out of the house. The only way I could come up with to get back inside was through the doggy door. Of course, the dog was of the purse-carrying kind and there was no way I was going to get into the house through her route of egress, but I did spend a good deal of time imagining scenarios wherein the doggy door was my path to success.
Needless to say, the phrase "When God closes a door, He shows you to the pet entrance," just doesn't do it for me.
Of course the best place to go when you have questions about the way God does things is the Bible. The first "door closing" I thought of was the Red Sea as it slammed shut behind the Israelites as they left Egypt. Forty years of wandering before the door opened to the Promised Land... and, as my husband helpfully pointed out, a generation had to die in the desert first.
Next example, please!
Garden of Eden... flaming swords and millennia of toil.
Next!
Moving towards the more literal: Noah's experience with the ark has both a door and a window, though at least 40 days passed between the closing of the door and the opening of the window. Besides, only a few birds used the window to come and go.
The Israelite spies in Jericho got shut into the city and escaped by a window. Maybe we are finally getting somewhere with this story.
Otherwise, there seems to be many more examples of having a door opened by knocking and windows being reserved for the entrance of thieves and the falling out of the unwise.
Maybe I had better stay away from windows.
More figuratively, Paul's inability to preach in Asia and the subsequent dream of a Macedonian pleading with him to come: a much better outcome if you cut the story somewhere short of their prison stay.
In the end, though, it strikes me that God isn't much bothered by locked doors and the absence of navigable windows. Jesus didn't let a little locked door keep him from meeting up with his disciples. God accomplished a few jail breaks without much concern for explosives or secret tunnels.
If God's not much bothered by the closing or opening of doors and windows, I suppose I shouldn't be either. So with a few edits: When Godcloses a door, He opens a window. Yes, I think that should about do it.
When God, He.
Therein lies the comfort for any situation.
Yadda, yadda, yadda.
Perhaps it is because the language purist and individualist that I am resents having a cliche applied to my life. Or that I am an over-literalist and the analogy of having a door closed on me and then trying to find a window that I don't mind climbing in, seems a waste of time and energy. It reminds me of one super stellar housesitting gig I accomplished where I locked myself out of the house. The only way I could come up with to get back inside was through the doggy door. Of course, the dog was of the purse-carrying kind and there was no way I was going to get into the house through her route of egress, but I did spend a good deal of time imagining scenarios wherein the doggy door was my path to success.
Needless to say, the phrase "When God closes a door, He shows you to the pet entrance," just doesn't do it for me.
Of course the best place to go when you have questions about the way God does things is the Bible. The first "door closing" I thought of was the Red Sea as it slammed shut behind the Israelites as they left Egypt. Forty years of wandering before the door opened to the Promised Land... and, as my husband helpfully pointed out, a generation had to die in the desert first.
Next example, please!
Garden of Eden... flaming swords and millennia of toil.
Next!
Moving towards the more literal: Noah's experience with the ark has both a door and a window, though at least 40 days passed between the closing of the door and the opening of the window. Besides, only a few birds used the window to come and go.
The Israelite spies in Jericho got shut into the city and escaped by a window. Maybe we are finally getting somewhere with this story.
Otherwise, there seems to be many more examples of having a door opened by knocking and windows being reserved for the entrance of thieves and the falling out of the unwise.
Maybe I had better stay away from windows.
More figuratively, Paul's inability to preach in Asia and the subsequent dream of a Macedonian pleading with him to come: a much better outcome if you cut the story somewhere short of their prison stay.
In the end, though, it strikes me that God isn't much bothered by locked doors and the absence of navigable windows. Jesus didn't let a little locked door keep him from meeting up with his disciples. God accomplished a few jail breaks without much concern for explosives or secret tunnels.
If God's not much bothered by the closing or opening of doors and windows, I suppose I shouldn't be either. So with a few edits: When God
When God, He.
Therein lies the comfort for any situation.
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