You can listen to this week’s Devotional here
Author: Scott Allman
Fair enough. It is important. What is my next move?
I hope I have learned something from my frequent failed ideas. Searching for a project plan with God as the Project Lead seemed promising. I dutifully followed the spreadsheet but it either had impossible tasks or the deadlines kept slipping. The Bible is a User’s Manual for some. For me, not so much.
Maybe, I thought, I could imitate others who are doing the Will of God. Revelation 4:8 describes a scene in heaven where “day and night angels do not cease to say ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’” I imagined doing the same as the angels, but alas, I am a mortal not an angel. These days, I don’t think that behavior is intended for me.
Instead of looking for a Grand Plan, consider that God is a teacher. There are no required textbooks in this school. God’s classes favor curiosity more than rote learning. In class, God shows us enlivening doors to lure us in. You can pass them by and just keep on going. Or you can approach them in a receptive mind and spirit.
Here is how it works.
Remember the game show “Let’s Make a Deal” hosted by Monty Hall? To the huzzahs from a cheering and jeering audience you must choose among three closed doors. Behind two doors are goats and behind the third is a car. Monty knows what is behind each door. You pick a door. It remains closed while Monty opens one of the other two. In most episodes, that opened door never shows the prize. It always has a goat. Now, in front of you are two unopened doors: your pick and the other unopened one. Nothing but your pending choice seems to matter as the chorus of advice is growing louder and louder. Impatiently, Monty urges you to pick between the two unopened doors. What to do?
Let’s apply this to us souls here at First Congo. To make your choices clearer, imagine a line of 100 doors instead of just three. Starting at the First Congo corner on Broadway the doors stretch East down Pine Street all the way to the stoplight at Whittier School. That is a lot of doors. Behind only one door is the prize – God’s Will.
For this game show God is the host. You, being in a spiritual mood, one day decide to be the contestant. The game begins. You walk behind God along the row of doors. At each closed door God stops and asks, “Is this the one?” Almost every time you respond, “No”. God opens the door and reveals something but not the prize. Somewhere, say in the block with the lovely Linden trees, you pick your door. God acknowledges your choice, and leaves that door closed.
Your choice is now made but God continues walking along and opening doors. Then, God stops in front of a door and says, “This one we leave closed.” Finally, all the remaining doors on the block are opened. In the end there are 98 opened doors, but none have the prize. Two doors are not opened: yours and God’s. One of those two has the prize. The audience clamors for your decision. Which one do you choose?
You are always better off abandoning your original choice. Mathematically, considering only the odds, it does not matter if there are only three doors or 100 or 1000. On one hand, you might have picked the one and only correct door out of 100 possibilities. Perhaps you were enlightened, or darn lucky, with your pick. On the other hand, you guessed wrong and God’s Will was behind some other door. Odds are not good for the choice from Your Will. Sadly, your choice sprang not from your spirit but from your Will.
My experience is that God can be a harsh teacher if your approach is wrong. Things can be awful. There could be a long string of doors with goat-like experiences. Even though each door has its own welcoming invitation, once you see inside you are confronted with many things. Some are what you want and others not so much. Your spiritual preparation is important.
One final thing. All doors lead to transformation. That is God’s Will.