Does an Open Door Really Mean God Wants You to Walk Through It?

[David]

I have had this question on my mind and wanted to see what the Bible has to say about it. Just because a door is open does not mean God wants you walking through it. Opportunities to sin abound. Opportunity does not equal permission.

A position becomes available. An affair comes your way. Someone tempts you with more money. You get a chance to get even. Before you say, “God must have opened this door,” make sure you know where it leads. “I want to do this, and now I can” does not equal “God wants me to do this.”

We often get slick at cloaking our desires with spiritual-sounding reasons. We want something, and then when opportunity knocks, we rename it God’s leading. But open doors can lead directly into sin. Temptation doesn’t always masquerade as danger. Sometimes it disguises itself as everything you’ve ever wanted.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. – Proverbs 3:5–6

Your feelings don’t have the final say. Convenience doesn’t get to dictate your choices, neither does money or the fact that “it all works out.” God’s Word is our authority, and our decisions must submit to it.

If walking through that open door means you’ll have to lie or sin sexually, turn your back on a responsibility from God, or get revenge on someone who wronged you, you already know what you should do. You don’t need God to open up every door you walk through. You need Him to give you wisdom and the strength to obey when that door remains closed.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. – James 1:5 Ask. Pull out your Bible and read it. Read it honestly. Read it in context. And be willing to hear an answer that doesn’t line up with what you want to do. If you only accept God speaking when He confirms your plans, you’re not after wisdom. You want Him to give you permission.

Don’t think, either, that just because something is hard that it’s not from God. A great door has been opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. Paul had an opportunity to preach the gospel, but he also faced opposition. Following God isn’t always comfortable, and a closed door is not Scripture demanding obedience in one quick sentence.
We can’t know why one opportunity dried up and another appeared. What we can know is that neither of those circumstances changes what the Bible says we should do. God has not commanded us to concoct a message behind every open and closed door. He has commanded us to trust Him and obey what He has said.

Before you go walking through that open door, ask if walking through it honors Christ. Ask if your plans agree with Scripture. Are you willing to turn it down if obeying God means you have to? Or have you already decided you want to do this and gone looking for a verse to prove it?

It’s not about whether the door is open or closed. It’s about whether you’ll obey Christ when it costs you to walk away. An open door is not an invitation to step over what God has clearly said.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. If you need a job and an honest opportunity comes along, you can take it. You do not need a special sign or proof that God personally opened that particular door. Scripture already approves honest work: “And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands” (1 Thessalonians 4:11).

Pray for wisdom, consider your responsibilities, and if the job is suitable and does not require disobedience to God, you are free to accept it and thank Him for His provision. The point is not to make you suspicious of every opportunity or afraid to make a decision. You do not have to uncover God’s hidden purposes before doing what His Word already approves.

 

[bobinfaith]

Good morning, David;

I enjoyed reading your OP and it gave me reflection on many areas of my life with the decisions and indecisions that I made with and without God.

In my life experience our "growing relationship" with God includes wisdom and discernment. But we forget when we replace wisdom and discernment from God with "over confidence in ourselves" we haven't mastered decision making and won't in our lifetime. This is where spiritual maturity, humbleness and humility come in.

"What was the real reason for my decisions and indecisions?"

Many times I prayed for an opportunity, for example, a job or that second new home (that we bought in Arizona in 2006) but it felt like I forced God's hand to succeed. I believe God gave me that job or the house but the challenges were there in any new job and a new house comes with responsibilities. But I learned later the job was a disaster and got fired during probation, and Arizona was not where my wife and I would later want to retire.

But God made a way. After I flew back to the Bay Area and started the new job my hiring manager didn't feel I was a good match nor had the accounting skills to perform the tasks. Within two weeks I was offered a new job. We ended up property managing and renting our home in Arizona and sold it in 2019. Both were valuable lessons and am grateful for God getting us through it.

I've asked the questions you shared, why do opportunities open that are from God but come with challenges and even temptations?!? Are they from the devil? Even then, I blamed the devil or thought the challenges were God's way of saying it wasn't His will. Truth is, when it was clearly God's will I quit because I was afraid of the trials.

On the other hand, I remember facing those challenges head on and "triumphed" because it was God's will. I learned when it's God's will He will provide the strength and lessons gained as part of the blessings of His will.

Without a relationship with Christ we cannot learn this valuable teaching. The world can have it's version of decisions and indecisions but it's not the same as the Word of God.

In 1 Corinthians 16 Paul had the opportunity to travel through Macedo′nia and Ephesus and would face many challenges and the enemy.

5 I will visit you after passing through Macedo′nia, for I intend to pass through Macedo′nia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may speed me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. - RSV

I am scheduled to guest preach once or twice a month at Churches that are without a Pastor. On July 10th, one of the Churches in San Jose CA, offered me an interim position as Senior Pastor of their Church while they search for a permanent Pastor. In my heart I was saying yes but I needed to seek what God says, first, as well as Hazel. It would have been a good opportunity.

It would take learning the Pastoral duties and vetting but later realized this would take us from our regular home Church for a period of time, as well as my personal ministry and time with my wife, etc...until that Church found a permanent Pastor.

A serious decision and good opportunity. I strongly feel in this case it was a door opening for me but didn't have God's permission.

I'm preaching there tomorrow and afterward will thank the Deacon for the opportunity but have decided to decline the opportunity. It feels right.

God bless you, David. Your OP gave me reflection and wanted to share my thoughts and testimony.

Bob

 

[David]

Bob, I really appreciate you sharing this. It is a good reminder that even a good opportunity still calls for prayer and wisdom. I can understand your decision about the interim pastor position, especially with everything you had to consider. I hope the preaching goes well tomorrow, and that the Lord uses His Word to bless those who hear it.

 

[Yesua888]

I have had this question on my mind and wanted to see what the Bible has to say about it. Just because a door is open does not mean God wants you walking through it. Opportunities to sin abound. Opportunity does not equal permission.

A position becomes available. An affair comes your way. Someone tempts you with more money. You get a chance to get even. Before you say, “God must have opened this door,” make sure you know where it leads. “I want to do this, and now I can” does not equal “God wants me to do this.”

We often get slick at cloaking our desires with spiritual-sounding reasons.

This sentence brings back memories of movies of Kings and Queens, and how they blatantly told the peasants that they "are following God's orders" and that they have "God's Blessings" or "We pray that God will bring us Victory as we go into battle". They used God as an excuse for the most heinous crimes against humanity (not too different now days, just dressed up differently ... still deceit of the devil!). Most often when that Kingdom was taking over another, and had initiated the war, the raping and pillaging etc, they hid behind "it's God's Will", "God is on our side". This has been going on since the beginning of time, all while using God's Name as an excuse to break His Law, to get their way!

We want something, and then when opportunity knocks, we rename it God’s leading. But open doors can lead directly into sin. Temptation doesn’t always masquerade as danger. Sometimes it disguises itself as everything you’ve ever wanted.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. – Proverbs 3:5–6

Your feelings don’t have the final say. Convenience doesn’t get to dictate your choices, neither does money or the fact that “it all works out.” God’s Word is our authority, and our decisions must submit to it.

If walking through that open door means you’ll have to lie or sin sexually, turn your back on a responsibility from God, or get revenge on someone who wronged you, you already know what you should do. You don’t need God to open up every door you walk through. You need Him to give you wisdom and the strength to obey when that door remains closed.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. – James 1:5 Ask. Pull out your Bible and read it. Read it honestly. Read it in context. And be willing to hear an answer that doesn’t line up with what you want to do. If you only accept God speaking when He confirms your plans, you’re not after wisdom. You want Him to give you permission.

Don’t think, either, that just because something is hard that it’s not from God. A great door has been opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. Paul had an opportunity to preach the gospel, but he also faced opposition. Following God isn’t always comfortable, and a closed door is not Scripture demanding obedience in one quick sentence.
We can’t know why one opportunity dried up and another appeared. What we can know is that neither of those circumstances changes what the Bible says we should do. God has not commanded us to concoct a message behind every open and closed door. He has commanded us to trust Him and obey what He has said.

Before you go walking through that open door, ask if walking through it honors Christ. Ask if your plans agree with Scripture. Are you willing to turn it down if obeying God means you have to? Or have you already decided you want to do this and gone looking for a verse to prove it?

It’s not about whether the door is open or closed. It’s about whether you’ll obey Christ when it costs you to walk away. An open door is not an invitation to step over what God has clearly said.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. If you need a job and an honest opportunity comes along, you can take it. You do not need a special sign or proof that God personally opened that particular door. Scripture already approves honest work: “And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands” (1 Thessalonians 4:11).

Pray for wisdom, consider your responsibilities, and if the job is suitable and does not require disobedience to God, you are free to accept it and thank Him for His provision. The point is not to make you suspicious of every opportunity or afraid to make a decision. You do not have to uncover God’s hidden purposes before doing what His Word already approves.

Hi David,
Thank you for this post ... its pretty important, and could apply to each one of us, in one way or another.
It brings to mind another TOPIC which may be worth DELVING into" "What does it mean to be a Mature Christian"?
Something that I pray for : )

 

[David]

This sentence brings back memories of movies of Kings and Queens, and how they blatantly told the peasants that they "are following God's orders" and that they have "God's Blessings" or "We pray that God will bring us Victory as we go into battle". They used God as an excuse for the most heinous crimes against humanity (not too different now days, just dressed up differently ... still deceit of the devil!). Most often when that Kingdom was taking over another, and had initiated the war, the raping and pillaging etc, they hid behind "it's God's Will", "God is on our side". This has been going on since the beginning of time, all while using God's Name as an excuse to break His Law, to get their way!

Hi David,
Thank you for this post ... its pretty important, and could apply to each one of us, in one way or another.
It brings to mind another TOPIC which may be worth DELVING into" "What does it mean to be a Mature Christian"?
Something that I pray for : )

That is a very good point, and I think you have actually connected the two subjects. One of the dangers Scripture repeatedly warns us about is putting God’s name on something God never said. People can convince themselves that because they want something, because it seems successful, or because circumstances are favorable, God must approve of it. But attaching the words “God’s will” to something does not make it God’s will.

Saul did something very much like that in 1 Samuel 15. God had clearly told him what to do, Saul disobeyed, and then tried to put a spiritual explanation on his disobedience by saying the animals had been spared “to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God” (1 Samuel 15:15). Samuel’s answer cut straight through the religious excuse: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

That gets right back to the point of this thread. We can call something God's leading, God's blessing, or God's will all day long, but if it contradicts what God has already said, the label means nothing. And I really like the subject you suggested: “What does it mean to be a mature Christian?”

Hebrews gives us one of the clearest answers: “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:14) This tells us where most people stand today, and it is not good.

That is interesting because biblical maturity is connected with discernment. The mature believer is learning to recognize the difference between what merely looks spiritual and what actually agrees with God's Word. Paul says something similar in Ephesians 4:14–15. Spiritual maturity means we are no longer “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,” but are “speaking the truth in love” and growing up into Christ.

So maturity is not simply how long someone has been a Christian. It is not how much religious language they know, how emotional their testimony is, or how confidently they say, “God told me.” The real question is: Are we becoming more governed by the Word of God? Are we learning to recognize error? Are we obeying Christ even when obedience conflicts with what we personally want?

I agree that would definitely be a worthwhile subject for us to dig into.