Sometimes God wants us to firmly close the door on our current path before He opens another one.
I’m currently following along with an online Bible study on the website #shereadstruth. It’s about the life of Moses and his part in the deliverance of the Israelites. One day last week, I read the passage, in Exodus, chapter five, where Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people go and not only did he refuse, he made their work more difficult.
They already had to make bricks, but now they were forced to find their own straw, yet do the same amount of work. Of course, they couldn’t keep up and then they were punished for it. The Israelites, in turn, got very angry at Moses for causing their newest misery.
I’ve always wondered why God would allow that to happen. They were already slaves. He was sending Moses to lead them out. Why didn’t He intervene, when Pharaoh decided to make a bad situation worse?
The writer for that day’s post pointed out that slavery had become the norm for the Israelites. She said that although it was a miserable way of life, they had become comfortable with it. God wanted to make it truly unbearable for them before He led them to something new.
Her point has swirled around in my mind for several days. I always love those Facebook quotes that say things like, “When God closes a door, don’t try to go back through it.” They always speak to me.
I know I have definitely been in situations where some aspect of my life was miserable, but the misery that I knew at the time, was what I had become used to. I was perfectly willing to stay in my misery instead of closing the door and starting on a new path. The unknown was scary.
Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation?
I have also found that when I really began to earnestly pray about my miserable situation, that things often did seem to get worse before they got better.
Was that perhaps because God wanted me, like the Israelites, to embrace the fact that He had a better plan and that my own circumstances at that moment, could never again be an option? Was it because He wanted me to accept with all of my heart, that when He closed that door, that I was to leave it locked for good?
Have you ever experienced this phenomenon?
I have always believed that God has a plan. I have also not always sought His will as I made decisions. Those decisions sometimes created a mess for me. Yet, our faithful Father, was always there to lead me out, at times more quickly than others.
These days, I bathe my major decisions in lots of prayer and regular Bible reading. I would like to think I’m getting better at listening.
The account of God getting ready to lead the Israelites out of bondage and towards the Promised Land reminded me of God’s faithfulness even when we can’t see it in the moment. I sometimes need reminding. Perhaps you do too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂