One of the things that we like to do as Christians is to pray for an “open door” when faced with a situation that we don’t like. We want God to spiritually, or even physically, open up a new opportunity in order to remove us from the situation in which we find ourselves. An open door may be a new job so that we can get out of the job we now have. If not a new job, it may be an open door to a new opportunity in our workplace because we feel that we are underpaid or that our abilities are not being utilized or that we are no longer challenged. It may be a new relationship because the relationship we’re in is less than fulfilling. We may pray for an open door to a new church because the church we are in doesn’t appreciate us, or we feel that we are underutilized or we aren’t “being fed”.
I would like to suggest that we have been praying for the wrong thing. OK – maybe not the wrong thing, but praying wrongly. Not in the way that lines up with how we should be praying. Maybe it’s just a change of our attitude in prayer. I think we should be praying differently.
There are a handful of scriptures that deal with open doors in the Bible.
1 Cor. 16:9 ~ for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
2 Cor. 2:12 ~ Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord,
These two verses have been the basis of asking God to open doors of opportunity for us. In neither case was Paul asking God to open a door of opportunity for him. He was simply stating that the door of opportunity had been opened. But in most cases in the Bible, God did not “open doors” of opportunity for people.
Let’s look at an example. In Genesis 21, we have the story of Hagar and Ishmael being sent away by Abraham. God had promised Abraham a son, and so Abraham had tried to make it happen by sleeping with his wife’s servant. He did indeed have a son, but after the birth of Isaac, the son which God had promised him, Sarah, Abraham’s wife, insisted that Hagar, her servant and Ishmael, the son of Hagar and Abraham, be sent away.
Genesis 21:14: ~ So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water, and strapped them on Hagar’s shoulders. Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba.
The first thing to notice here, is that they “wandered aimlessly” through the desert. When we’re praying for an open door, we’re often in the same situation as Hagar. We don’t have a plan. Things haven’t turned out the way we thought they would, or should have, and we don’t have a plan B. And so we wander aimlessly. That’s when we start asking God to open a door – any door – that will remove us from our current situation. However, look at how God handled Hagar and Ishmael.
Genesis 21:15 ~ When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush. Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards[c] away. “I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as she burst into tears.
But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.”
Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink.
When Hagar found herself in a situation from which she needed God’s deliverance, God didn’t open a door. He opened her eyes. When he opened her eyes, she saw her deliverance – a well. God didn’t miraculously create the well in response to her need. The well was already there. She just didn’t see it. Too often, we get so caught up in our current circumstances and situations, that we don’t see the deliverance, the help, the answer to our problem is right there in front of us. Too often, we would rather leave the situation than find the answer within the situation.
God didn’t miraculously transport Hagar and Ishmael to another city where they would have the resources they needed to survive. What they needed was already there.
Genesis 21:20 ~ And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness. Where did Ishmael grow up? In the wilderness. He remained in the situation that was so desperate before. God didn’t remove him from the situation. He gave him the resources he needed to survive the situation.
Another example is found in 2 Kings. Israel is at war with Aram. The king of Aram can’t figure out how the king of Israel seems to know his plans before they happen. He hears that Elisha is reporting to the king of Israel all of his battle plans. The king of Aram decides to capture Elisha in order to take away the advantage that Israel has in this war. He asked his advisors to locate Elisha.
2 Kings 6:13 ~ And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
In an impossible situation, the answer was already there. Elisha could have prayed for God to open a door of opportunity for them to escape these circumstances. Instead, he realized that the answer was right there in front of them.
There is also the example of Balaam and the talking donkey. Balaam couldn’t see the angel standing in his way until God opened his eyes to see. David prayed in Psalm 119:18 ~ Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions. It’s not that God’s instructions weren’t there for David to see. It was that David knew that he was unable to recognize God’s truths at times and was asking for God to allow him to see the truths that were there in front of him. What if we prayed the same way?
Instead of praying for God to open a door for us to escape our less than favorable circumstances, why not pray that God would open our eyes to see the answers that may already be right there in front of us. We just can’t see them. What if, instead of removing us from that lousy job situation, God were to open our eyes to see the co-worker who desperately needs the encouragement we give daily? Or the department that needs the knowledge that we have? What if, instead of removing us from a bad relationship God were to open our eyes to see the spouse who still believes in us? What if he were to allow us to see the spiritual forces at work to preserve our marriage? What if God were to open our eyes to the way he is working on our lives every day? Would that change the way we pray? I think it would. What do you think?