Inside Out Living

Not long after our third child was born this past summer, my parents came over from Western Oregon for a visit. While they were here we tried to come up with some ideas of what they might be able to do and how they could help Kristi and I. Since my Dad has a mild interest in history I suggested that they take our two older children to visit the Pete French Round Barn for the day. They all agreed that it would be a wonderful idea and would make the house much quieter for Kristi and the baby.

Everything seemed to go as planned until I got a phone call at the office from my parents that Sydney had hurt her finger and they were bringing her into the emergency room. Not going into great detail I will tell you what had happened. Once they arrived at the visitor center and the round barn, the kids needed to use the restroom. Payton our oldest went first and after he came out Sydney had decided that she did not need to go, so Payton proceeded to close the door. Well at the last minute Sydney changed her mind and tried to get her hand in the door before it closed. Since the door was much heavier than my three-year-old daughter’s finger, the finger was badly pinched in the door.

I share this memory with you because I have been thinking about how God opens and closes doors this week and what our reactions to the opening and closing of these doors is. Like you I often pray and ask God to show me what his will is regarding certain decisions and opportunities. I ask him to open the doors that he wants to and close the doors that he wants to, trusting that he knows what is best. This all works great until you factor in human emotions. Sometimes as finite human beings we can have a difficult time discerning what the will of an omniscient God is. This can lead us to begin to believe that a certain path is God’s will when in fact it is not. Now as we begin to move down this path we become increasingly emotionally invested with the people that we meet on that path.

Now eventually God will close the door on this path and we will have to make a choice. Will we stay clear of the door and turn around and seek out the path that God has really marked out for us, or will we resist God’s will and stick out hand into what remains of the open door getting our fingers pinched in the process. I think because we are emotional beings that value relationship, we often tend to experience some “finger pinching” when God closes a door. It is not that God enjoys causing pain or difficulty in our life. In fact it is through these divine finger pinching moments that God can bring about some great growth in our lives.

As I have thought about this I have concluded that it is ok to experience pain and sadness when God closes a particular door. These emotions do not mean that you are not allowing God to direct your life, rather they just mean that you are human and did not know in advance what direction God would ultimately lead you. So, may you experience some divine finger pinching as you allow God to direct you on the path of life.

As I was reading in Luke chapter 4 yesterday, I was struck by Jesus continuing to silence the demons that he was casting out of people. These demons were declaring his identity as the Son of God and he was silencing them. That observation led me to a couple of questions:

Why would the demons who Jesus cast out announce that He is the Messiah? Should not the goal of the demons be to prevent faith in Jesus?

And then why would Jesus rebuke them for doing so? Doesn’t this help his goal?

As I pondering these questions I thought, might it be that they (the demons) are attempting to short circuit faith and trust in the heart and mind of those who come to Jesus. The demons knew who Jesus was, and yet they did not love and trust him. They had chosen to make Satan their lord long ago and are putting their hope and trust in him that he will overthrow Yahweh. Could it be that part of the demonic strategy is to replace faith and trust with mere head knowledge of who Jesus is?

Sadly how many people have bought into this lie and stop at just knowing who Jesus is and assume that they are ok. Faith in Jesus is more that belief in his identity, it is an active trust in his finished work on the cross and that we are a new creation in him. Faith is living our lives as if everything that Jesus said and did were true. Are you living your life differently because of who Jesus is and what he has done for you? Or are you one who believes and yet does not live in a way that demonstrates your faith and trust in Him?