Led by Circumstances

One of the most heretical teachings from my youth was the doctrine of being "Led by Doors." It was fairly common that during the teen fellowship testimony time, someone would say God opened this door or that He shut that door. I realize that doors have an archetypal symbolism, but what my friends really meant was that they were looking at circumstances and labeling them a move of God. Often, it was no such thing. The devil knows how to open and close doors too.

Gradually, over the years, the Spirit of God has led me into more truth and enlightenment. I no longer auto-interpret an 'open door' as a signal to move right ahead, nor do I mechanically see a 'closed door' as a confirmation that I ought to give up.  So radical has been this change that these days I am just as likely to take the attitude, "It's a mountain; I can talk to it," (cf Mk 11:23, Mt 21:21) as I once was to passively shake my head and mumble, "I guess God doesn't want me to have that."   

Consequently, one of my lessons from KatieLyn, the runaway bride, was a fresh look at how much I have reformed in the intervening years. While it was not really a surprise to see her making the same kinds of mistakes that I used to make, it was jarring to see how great a risk that my being 'Led by Circumstances' had been. I wonder at the countless blessings I have surely missed by not having taken the courage to walk by faith! 

The Led-by-Doors doctrine is based primarily on two scripture passages, and the true context of both is closer to God's judgment than God's guidance. In Isaiah 22:22 where we read, "what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open," Shebna's authority was transferred to Eliakim because of his pride, a punishing judgment. In Revelation 3:7, 8, when Jesus says, "I have put before you an open door which no one can shut," the church at Philadelphia is being given a little more authority because they have not denied Him and have kept His word, a rewarding judgment.

Paul uses the door metaphor about three times in his canonical epistles. In 1 Cor. 16:9 he wrote that a wide door for effective service in Ephesus had opened to him.  In 2 Cor. 2: 12, 13 he reported that there was a door open for the gospel in Troas as well, but his inward witness overrode the favorable circumstances that he saw there; he soon followed that inner leading and went on to Macedonia. In Col. 4:3, Paul writes about a closed up situation and is asking for prayer that God would open a door, so clearly he was not assuming that a closed door meant that he should give up. He was not listening to the voice of circumstances.

God is not ordinarily in the door opening and closing business as a way of communicating His will. More commonly, it is man's responsibility to open doors, and often, Jesus is the door.

If you look to circumstances for God's guidance, you are probably going to mess up. If you go to a counselor for guidance, and the counselor is looking at circumstances, you have exponentially decreased your ability to hear God. God does not lead His children by easily seen circumstances of need, human logic, or fear. 

A negative circumstance may be something else entirely:

• It could be a test. Planet Earth is one big testing ground to see who will be faithful, who will make it to heaven, or who will reject the Creator. If a negative circumstance is actually a test, then you need to pass it.

• It could be your fault! The Lord's reaping and sowing principle is an equal opportunity grower, so if you have put bad seed out there and the crop is flourishing, you need to repent.

• It could be an attack of the devil. These attacks can be sneaky. They are often filled with emotion, either good or bad. Something else may look safer or be more enticing (deceived by good emotion), or it can be an overwhelming pressure or depression (deceived by painful emotion). Bullying and persecution are from the devil; God's Spirit does not pressure or try to control a person. When it is the devil, you need to resist him.

I have sincerely taken a step back and analyzed what happened to KatieLyn as objectively as I possibly can. I think she was the victim of a Triple Whammy! (1) There was definitely a satanic attack that caused her hysteria. (I am trusting her mother to be an accurate reporter on this. We never witnessed her panic, but her mom said she got "hysterical" when she was ready to bolt.) If she was overwrought, it was not God doing it and she was not herself. The devil hates marriage and would certainly try to stop a godly one. (2) There is also a clear pattern of sowing and reaping. Faith-robbing words of unbelief had been sown into her life. And even though she had been in training to fulfill her dream of becoming a wife since she was about four years old, she doubted her own ability. (3) I strongly suspect that the Lord allowed this as a test, which she flunked. She had prayed for and received an answer to prayer; she had known the will of God, but she tried walking it out by sight instead of by faith and stumbled. She was inexperienced in resisting the devil and instead of him doing the fleeing, he ran her off instead. 

I'm not sure that KatieLyn ever really looked at the doors that had been flung wide open for her: doors of career opportunity, ministry opportunity, social opportunity, and nest-feathering opportunity. Her tunnel vision was focused on the doors that she could slam shut all by herself. For someone who characteristically looked on the sunny side of life, she was fixated on the billows. She once told Joe that she was afraid of becoming like her mother; it seems that she did.