When you see this title, you may be thinking I have come up with a random theme for a sermon, or that I have run out of topics, and I am just grasping at straws. However, this is a subject that came to me after praying on what to write about. Mel and I were discussing dreams, and the issue of open doors seems to be a common theme in his dreams. It was then I knew what I needed to blog about: the positive and negative doors in our lives.
We have a bible search program on our computer called “Word Search 7.” When I looked up the word “door,” 164 matches popped up. As I read the many different times this simple word is used, I realized I could delve much deeper into the subject than I originally intended. I am certainly not going to list all those scriptures, but this will be a four-part series.
The very first time the word door occurs in the bible is in Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." God confronts Cain after he has given God a less than satisfactory offering. God obviously knew Cain’s heart very well, for sin was indeed lying at his door. The next action of Cain is murdering his brother Abel. When we willfully choose to disobey God and have no desire to please Him, we invite sin to rule our actions. We open our heart’s door to evil ways and are more apt to do the wrong thing. Although we can never be perfect, when we do our best to please God and have a sincere desire to walk down paths of righteousness, it is much easier to resist temptations and do the right thing.
I am not going to sequentially go through all 164 occurrences of the word door, but before I move to the New Testament, I would like to mention two more important doors in Genesis. In contrast, the door of faith and the door of doubt.
First, the door of faith to which I am referring is the door on the ark that Noah spent 120 years building. In Genesis chapter 6, God instructs Noah to build an ark so that he and his family will be spared the coming judgement upon the wickedness of humankind. In faith, Noah spends 120 years building the ark. Noah further obeys the Lord by gathering pairs of animals onto the ark.
Then the Lord said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.” On the very same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark-- they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut [the door]. Genesis 7:1 & 13-16
Notice that Noah and his family are spared because God sees they are righteous. Next, notice it is God who shuts the door to the ark. Due to Noah’s faith and obedience combined with holy living, God used His door of protection not only to spare Noah, but also to assure future generations could continue after the floods.
The door of doubt to which I am referring is the door Sarah stood next to as she learned she would have a child.
Then the Lord appeared to [Abraham] by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" So he said, "Here, in the tent." And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" And the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." Genesis 18:1-3, 9-14
In spite of hearing the Lord Himself tell her she would have a son at the age of 90, she refused to believe. This was not the first time she refused to believe God’s promises. As you know, two chapters earlier she insisted Abraham marry her servant Hagar in order to supply him heirs. She could not be convinced God was going to use her to be the mother of all nations, and acted outside of God’s will. Yet, God is gracious and forgave Sarah’s faithlessness and stubbornness.
And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Genesis 21:1-2
You can read more about Sara in my blog, "Profile of a Doubter, Part 1: Sarah" https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2024/02/profile-of-doubter-part-1-sarah.html
There the good news lies. Even when we stand by our own doors of doubt and obstinately refuse to believe God’s promises, He is faithful to still do just as He says. However, this is not to encourage you to doubt, but to believe that God is the ultimate promise keeper.
This is all I am going to explore for the Old Testament. Part 2 will explore the New Testament.
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