“So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed the door behind him.” (Genesis 7:15-16 NASB)
Whoa now! The title “Close The Door,” may have started you singing a line from an old romance song where the next words were, “Turn out the light,” but that is not what this meditation is about! It is about action, but a different type of action than that old R&B favorite of yours suggest. This meditation is about closing those heavy doors that have proven hard to shut. Now there is evidence in the scriptures, including the verse above, that the Lord can shut doors and when He does, no one can open them. And we can find where He can open doors, and nobody can close them. We can even find out how He can make a door out of now way leading one to a better place. Three Hebrew boys would tell you about how God will be with you behind a closed door and deliver you when the fires of life try to destroy you. We know what God can do! We know that just as He closed the door on the ark and shut in Noah, his family, and the male and female of all flesh, when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, let’s put it this way, God closed the door on your eternal destiny. You ended up inside the camp of the righteous, inside the place where you could be sustained and find safety during the long storms of life, inside the hand of Jesus where no one could snatch you out of His hand, and inside the proverbial “Old Ship of Zion.” We know about what God can do in the case of doors, but let’s take a look at your part in closing doors on your sanctification journey.
There are some heavy doors believers must close. I’m talking about heavy doors! I’m talking about doors that are made of past memories that harass us and even hurt our ability to walk the straight and narrow path of righteousness, doors that open up to old habits that are trying to hang around and are steadily pushing against your effort to close such doors, and doors that are near the doorsteps where intruding peers are trying to convince you to come out and join in their iniquitous pursuits and sinful playfulness. There are some heavy doors believers must close! Doors that lead to being unequally yoked in a relationship because your fleshly desires, the secular world, and Satan, all which try to convince you that anyone is better than no one. There are some heavy doors to close, doors that seem impossible to close, as if there is an obstacle in the way or it is as like it has swollen to the point that there is no way on earth you can close them. Did you catch the last part of the sentence before this one, “no way on earth you can close them?” That’s true for some heavy doors! But there is a way not on earth; a way that has the Help of our God who is so strong and so mighty! But action on your part is required. You have to show some initiative! You have to take some action to close the door and when you find it hard to shut, and that’s when the Lord will help you! That’s a good thing. Do you want to know why? Can’t nobody keep Him from shutting the door on anything, including bad habits, bad deeds from your past hanging over your head, deeds that you have been forgiven of, bad messed up lifestyles, bad self-esteem, bad role model influences, bad failings, and bad jobs in adhering to our familial roles! In all these cases with heavy doors that need to be closed, choose to take some action! And then, start closing the door, praying that the Lord will come to your rescue. God can help you! He can come to your rescue in a miraculous way, much like He closed the door on the Egyptians who were in pursuit of the Israelites as they crossed the Red Sea. The latter crossed on dry land. Not so with the former. Close the door…with the help of the Lord! Then God will “turn ON the light” and He will show you a better way! As you read below, action was required of Moses. Hmmm! Enjoy your Saturday morning! Worship tomorrow! Be blessed!
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out with your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.” So Moses reached out with his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing [right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.” (Exodus 14:26-28 NASB)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King