Door closed in my face...

When God closes a door, he opens a window, right? What if the windows are locked too?  Sometimes we really are locked out and not privy to the things we desire or require.

God never gives us more than we can handle, right? Looking at people that have faced the unimaginable (death of a child, AIDS or…) I have no curiosity as to the degree of my inner strength.

Yet sometimes all we have is loss, fear, grief, helplessness, shame or disappointment.  Of course I’m going to bring this around to the fact that we always have Jesus to turn to in our times of crises but must we constantly diminish these crises? Does He not feel our agony as well? How can He if we don’t have any? Christians who deny such feelings (they have them, just don’t admit to them)  frighten me so.

I have my struggles and they are a lot like yours. I live in a decaying shell that wants to deteriorate and deconstruct. It is a constant battle to find balance in being healthy without becoming obsessive or fearful. (I’ll let you know when I arrive) I live in a world that costs more than what I earn surrounded by people in a similar boat who’s need oft times is greater than mine. I have relationships that make perfect sense one day that become sources of discomfort, dread or shame on another. 

And I’m surrounded by idiots!

Oh don’t tell me you’ve never felt that way. We are all amazed by the recklessness, carelessness, inconsideration and downright cruelty of humanity. The lady in the store, the guy in the honking car behind us, the people under our roof… Everyone disappoints, everyone sins and everyone reminds us that we’re probably a lot worse than we can imagine.

And where is God in all of this?  Making and implementing a plan of redemption, of course. Does that mean that everything is going to work out in the end? Not at all. I can’t be the only person who regrets choices I’ve made and how I’ve spent my time.

But Romans 8:28 says, “All things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose!” First off, good is not perfect. Second, I’m not convinced that that implies that every sordid detail of our lives magically transforms into God’s will for us and that we will be eternally free from any responsibility.

What? In heaven we forget all of this, right? It doesn’t matter anymore, right?  Call me a downer but it seems an awful lot of work, this Jesus stuff, to get us from point A (Earth)to point B (Heaven). I have always been convinced that this life is a hell of lot more (sorry couldn’t resist) than getting our fire insurance and waiting for the Big Day. I think our choices here effect eternal placement and our role in that eternity somehow.

But in the here and now so many of us feel trapped because we are. While it may be unheard of for Christians in America to be thrown into prison on account of their faith, most of us are imprisoned nonetheless. Trapped in jobs, marriages,, etc., circumstances  that never improve, rarely change and if so, only for the worse.

At some point we need to face the Lord and ask Him how we got here and take a peek at His blue prints for redemption.  I’m amazed at how many people who walk around miserable yet either (a) seem unaware or (b) lie through their teeth as if an admission of pain is some sort of spiritual failure.

Listen, we were created by God to dwell with him.  We lost everything through sin. We are more pathetic than animals at a zoo ripped from their natural habitat. We are trapped in dying bodies in a world full of God-haters run by a devil most of us don’t believe exists. How on earth could we be anything but miserable?

If a door closes, and a window is locked, face it, you’re trapped. You ain’t going anywhere until the God of salvation makes a way for you. Now is a really good time to stop everything and find Him.

 Or plan to be where you are for a Very. Long. Time.

 

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