The Protection of a Closed Door
I think the phrase “a closed door” has gotten a bad rap. It’s usually associated with something negative or disappointing in our lives—a missed opportunity that we will regret for the rest of our lives. However, sometimes a closed door is God’s way of protecting His people.
In the fall of 1938, Walter Levi was coming home from work, when he discovered his wife, Evelyn, asleep on the couch in the living room. His one-month-old son, Walter Robert was crying in the back bedroom. Mr. Levi touched his wife, but she wouldn’t rouse. A late afternoon nap wasn’t unusual for the exhausted mom of a newborn, but she never had slept this late before. One quick glance around the house revealed a kettle boiling viciously on the stove, and suddenly he realized it was very hard to breathe. Shaking her more forcefully, Mr. Levi sensed that all was not well with his beloved wife. However, she would never awake…her obituary chronicles the incident this way:
On the discovery of the unconscious condition of his wife, when he returned from work, Levi called Dr. Cyril Hutner of Woodbridge who attributed her death to carbon monoxide poisoning. Members of the Woodbridge First Aid Squad worked for hours in vain attempting to revive her.
Police are of the opinion that a kettle of baby clothing boiling on the kitchen gas stove had consumed the oxygen in the unventilated apartment, suffocating the mother as she apparently slept on the sofa in the living room.
The baby escaped a similar fate as he slept in an opposite bedroom, the door to which was closed shutting him off from the other rooms in the house.
The Blessing of a Closed Door
A closed door may seem unpleasant at the time, but it can also mean the difference between life and death. This story is particularly of interest to me because the baby’s mother, Evelyn, was my grandmother, the baby was my dad. If he would have died with his mother, I wouldn’t be here talking to you today. My daughters wouldn’t exist. God preserved our lives by a closed door more than 80 years ago.
The fact that my grandmother passed away in such a manner saddens me, but I thank God for the closed doors in my life that are designed to preserve life. They are closed for a divine reason that only He knows.
And in John 10 Jesus presents Himself as the Door into His eternal Kingdom. Yes, we think of this door as being open to us who have believed in Him as the Savior, but to those who live in unbelief and would seek to harm His flock, the door is closed—for the flock’s protection and preservation of eternal life.
I challenge you to think back on a time when you experienced a “closed door” in your life. What new direction did you take, and can you now see God’s blessing in it?