When He Closes the Door, Take Out Your Pen and Pad and Do Some Much Needed Inventory!
Let God close the door, so you can sit down and reason together about what's working and what's not. What should be added, what should be taken away? And you can't sit with God while you're busy serving others. You need to put your "closed for inventory" sign up, and let people know, "not today…." Let God restructure and renovate you and your life. Let God handle it. Take your hands off it. It would help if you had a break from being everything to everybody.
Psalm 42:1-5, "As the deer pants for water, I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. Where can I find him to come and stand before him? Day and night, I weep for his help, and all the while, my enemies taunt me. "Where is this God of yours?" they scoff. Take courage, my soul! Do you remember those times (but how could you ever forget them!) when you led a great procession to the Temple on festival days, singing with joy, praising the Lord? Why then be downcast? Why be discouraged and sad? Hope in God! I shall yet praise him again. Yes, I shall again praise him for his help." (TLB)
Anyone that knows me knows that I am a bookaholic! I read everything! There is absolutely no time when there isn't a book in my hand, on my desk, in my bag, or on my nightstand. I love reading books! And when my daughter and sons were little, I would always make sure that they had reading time at home.
Well, my children spent a lot of time at the public library. I would take them; they would find their book, and I would find mine. But there's one memory about our library trips that I remember most. It's what stirred today's devotional. Me and the kids and I, as usual, went to the library; however, this time was different when we got there. Usually, it would be full of parents, guardians, and kids, but this time there was no one. And it suddenly dawned on me that this time wasn't a good time to go. You see, this was when they traditionally conducted their inventory. Yep, what a lousy time to go to a place you want to be in, but you can't because they were shut down to take stock.
Before we go on, let's define the word "inventory." It means "a complete list of items such as goods in stock or the contents of a building; several goods in stock." Its Latin Origin "inventarium" means "a list of what is found," from "invenire" which means "to discover." Inventory is conducted to discover what's good, what's wrong, what's outdated, what's needed, what's no longer needed, and how much of all of this is present. Inventory is done to determine the cost of the goods and the cost of the bad in stock.
With that in mind, there was one man in history who was called the man after God's own heart by God Himself. His name was David. It's this man whose personal spiritual diary is in your possession. It's called the book of Psalms. One of those is Psalm 42; it's a natural look inside David's heart. No pretense, no mask, no phoniness, no cover-up, but the real heart of David.
Psalm 42 begins with verse 1, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." In a word, David is struggling. In essence, something's not right. But instead of sinking, he knows the lifeguard to call on for help. He says this in the Psalm, "My soul is downcast within me: therefore, I will remember You."
Here, David is much like the library, and he's saying it's time to close the store and meet with God. It's time to take an inventory of my life and where I am. It's time to discover what's good, what's wrong, what's outdated, what's needed, what's no longer needed, and how much of all of this is present. It's time to find out the cost of the good and the cost of the bad I have in stock.
There Is A Blessing Behind Closed Doors. I believe that God closes doors to force you to turn to Him, so He can finally point you toward the right door you should've entered.
Maybe it's that time for you too. Let Him close the door (that no man can open), and you take close inventory. The truth is, we can only go but so long without time away from all the other voices. And can we dare be honest? There are a lot of voices. Our spouses, children, family members, coworkers, bosses, clients, church, neighbors, and the list could go on forever. Someone somewhere is constantly talking to us about something. But with so many voices to listen to from day to day, when do you get quiet time to hear the voice of the Lord? And isn't that the one voice we can't afford to ignore?
Isaiah 40:28-31, "Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of His understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall into exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." (NLT)
God asks us to pause or ultimately makes us wait, not to punish us, but to refit us. He wants to slow you down for work that needs to be done, for refueling that you desperately need, for retooling, or for redirecting you back into the center of His will. And He's wired us to do what His Son did at the beginning of His unbelievably busy days here on earth - to spend quiet time with Him. To hit 'pause' each new day to hear our master's voice before we listen to any other, appropriate our Master's resources, experience our Master's healing touch, and receive our Master's orders for the day.
Life has a strange way of simply spinning out of control without a periodic time of uninterrupted inventory with God. Because besides listening to all the other voices, we also have jobs, school, responsibilities, appointments, meetings, and once again, the list could go on and on. For instance, there was a time when I was heading out of the house with a million things on my mind, teaching sessions, leadership workshops, preaching engagements, on top of handling the household affairs of my own house, and my appointments, etc.… All the distractions didn't dawn on me until I was almost to my appointment, and a woman on her phone stepped out into the street on a green light and was almost hit by a car. She screamed "Jesus! Thank God I prayed before I left home this morning!" And that's when it hit me…did I pray this morning? I honestly couldn't remember. I had so much to do, so many places to be, so many meetings to attend, so many workshops to facilitate, so many decisions to make, I simply couldn't remember praying before I left home. That's a rarity for me since walking around in the quiet of my living-room is my absolute favorite place to pray every morning. But somehow that morning, I didn't "have time to pray." But when I finally got to my job, I went in my conference room and just sat quietly for a moment. As ironic, and maybe even comical as it may sound, my silent prayer to God was asking God, "did I pray this morning?" So grateful that He didn't disconnect His communication with me, because I could clearly hear Him say… "No…" Immediately I wondered what God's grace, mercy, favor, and protection had spared me from, as I walked along the morning without ever asking Him to keep me covered by His blood and His name? I thought about that woman so distracted by her phone that she almost lost her life getting struck by a car, but even in her distraction, she still remembered that she'd prayed that morning.
I know for most, that sounds tragic coming from a speaker, preacher, teacher, but it's my truth. Sometimes I can get so busy (with both the good and the bad) that I don't take time out for God or myself. Even more disturbing is that morning prayer is my favorite. I always come out of morning prayer feeling like a superhero (don't laugh!) But I do. I feel like I have God, all His angels, the whole armor of God, and the entire host of heaven walking out the door with me to face the day. I feel so inspired, empowered, encouraged, lifted, and strong, and yet I was too busy that day to pray.
I hope this will encourage and inspire you to re-evaluate (and do a personal inventory) your life. Then, go to God like David did. God will close the door, and you will have uninterrupted, personal time with your Savior. This makes me think of the many times in the Bible (Old and New Testament) when a door was closed, there was often a miracle performed on the other side. From Noah and Elisha to Jesus and the Disciples, something extraordinary happens when doors are closed!
Stores know you can't take stock of what you have while you're still selling and servicing customers at the same time. They must close the doors. They must hang out a closed sign to do it. It's the same spiritually, mentally, and emotionally for us. Because it's hard to see where you are and where God wants you to be while you're still meeting all the demands of your daily responsibilities and servicing all the "customers" in your life. It's hard to know what You need while simultaneously serving all the needs of others.
But what I've learned (albeit the hard way) is that you must value yourself enough to ask God to close the door because you need to meet with Him to re-evaluate your inventory.
There must be those times when you hang out the closed sign and say, "I'm all yours, God." Spend some extended time with your Lord. Remember David's question: "When can I go and meet with God?" It might be a day; it might be a couple of days or occasionally a more extended period. And what you do is, take your bible, a pen, and a big notepad to write down what comes to you while you're listening to the Lord, and you can expect Him to fill that pad. He loves when we go to Him with an empty piece of paper instead of our own full personal agenda.
A church or a ministry is wise to allow, even to encourage their leaders to stop all the business and running the church machine and take time out for the inventory. The truth is that many marriages, relationships, friendships, businesses, and churches are going under because everyone is too busy to do inventory. You need some quiet time away from it all (and them all) to sit with God and see what's good, what's wrong, what's outdated, what's no longer needed, and what requires more. If not, you'll still try to make deposits in others when you're depleted yourself.
In honesty, there are some relationships/friendships/companions we no longer need, and we're stressed out over their very presence. However, if you took the required time to sit behind closed doors and talk to God, He would've shown you months or even years ago. So many of us have people, places, and long-outdated things, and still, they're hanging onto us because we haven't taken the necessary time to re-evaluate them and realize that keeping them is far too costly!
Listen: Psalm 139:23-24, "Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about…" (MSG). You need to ask the Lord to do this for you. "investigate" means "to conduct a formal inquiry to establish the truth." Its Latin Origin "investigare" means "to trace out". When you "trace" something, it means "to find out by investigation". And there are simply some things in your life that you will never discover a need to be removed from your life until the Lord does His own private investigation. It's not until you sit with the Lord, with your undivided attention, and listen attentively to Him, that you'll be able to finally trace where your exhaustion is coming from; where your discouragement is coming from; where your depletion is coming from; where your peace, joy, and contentment are going. It's not until then that you can trace where your aggravation is coming from. It takes investigation, and investigation doesn't happen in 5 minutes. You need time to spend time with the Lord. You're losing too much sleep, money, sanity, and strength. You need to trace the source.
You need to deal with wrong actions and wrong attitudes that have developed. So, stand back with Him and get the big picture again. Then ask Him to help you see each of the key people in your life as He sees them – through His eyes. And when He says he goes, then you let him go! When He says she stays, whether you like it or not, she stays! You need clear and concise guidance and direction, and you can't get that surrounded by a multitude of noisy distractions!
So how long has it been since you closed for inventory? Are you afraid they'll get mad? Are you afraid you may miss an opportunity? Are you afraid the time apart will destroy the relationship/friendship? Are you afraid you'll miss out on money? Are you afraid you'll lose 'friends,' posts, likes, and tweets? Are you afraid you'll lose your seat, title, office, and position? Are you afraid you'll lose your ring and robe? What has you so afraid of temporary closed doors granting you permanent peace? Listen, anytime you spend time with the Lord, you Gain…you never Lose! So, anything (or anyone) that falls off in your silence was a quiet blessing!
God has so much He wants to show you, and you need to hear His voice so much. You'll come out of that seeking time ready for business again. But first, you must be still and know that He is God. You Have to Take Time to Be Still! Some may not like this, but I'll say it anyway, you are NOT that anointed, gifted, talented, influential, and vital that all the world and the Kingdom of God will go on hold because of your absence.
Jesus shares these exciting words in Luke 14:28-30, "Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you will look foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: 'He started something he couldn't finish.'" (MSG) You need to have the Lord close doors and sit you down to do inventory. You need to know if you have all you need to do and be all that the Lord desires, or are you missing something? And if you are, do you even know what it is? You'll never know until you sit down and count the cost. Do your inventory before you start the business, open the church, relocate, marry them, go to school there, take this job… Can you finish what you started with what you have? And I understand potential and ambition, dreams, and desires, but I also understand the importance of time with God to hear His voice and heed his direction. You need to know how much you've gained by having her in your life, and you also need to know how much you've lost by having him in your life. And you'll never know either without time with God.
I believe that God closes doors to force you to turn to Him, so He can finally point you toward the right door you should've entered. Even David knew that. Because as distressed as he was, he at least knew he needed some time with God. He said, yes, I'm going to praise Him again, but for right now, I need some help with what I'm feeling. So do you, and that's not a bad thing to admit.
Let God close the door, so you can sit down and reason together about what's working and what's not. Where is the gain, and where is the loss? What should be added, what should be taken away? And you can't sit with God while you're busy serving others. You need to put your "closed for inventory" sign up, and let people know, "not today…." You're not out of commission permanently; you're just under New Management and receiving some Over-Due Repairs, and when you open for Business again, this time, you'll turn a better Profit! Let God restructure and renovate you and your life. Let Him go over the plans and look at the numbers. Let God Handle It, and Take Your Hands Off It. It would help if you had a break from being everything to everybody. Let God replenish you. Let God restore you.
Keep in mind: YOU are not the only person people can go to! For instance, I could've taken the girls to other libraries, and there were other beauty supply stores I could've gone to. So, in other words, get rid of your Elijah Complex; you Are Not the Only One God Has Left to Use!
Listen to Matthew 6:6: "But when you pray, go into your [MOST] PRIVATE ROOM, AND, CLOSING THE DOOR, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open." (AMPC)
"Here’s what I want you to do: Find a QUIET, SECLUDED PLACE so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” (MSG)
Based on these translations, how is your behind closed doors meeting supposed to be done when doing inventory with God?
You enter your most private room and close the door; you go to your room and shut the door; you go into a room alone and close the door behind; you go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you in secret; you find a quiet, secluded place, so you’re not tempted to role-play before God; you go into your inner room and close your door; you go into a room by yourself and shut the door!
In other words, this is a private matter between you and God! Not your prayer circle, not your BFF, not even your pastor, spouse, or children! You and God alone need to have this conversation and complete this inventory! So by no means think that you are being selfish; this is about self-care! after all, you are no good to the body of Christ if you can’t even take proper care of your own body!
Do not take this lightly! Like David, set aside your time with God, take your pen and pad, and work! We need a healthy, healed, and whole you in the kingdom of God to aid in fixing this fractured world!
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Take your stand today and declare that the best is yet to come, and you shall see the goodness of God's working power.
There Is A Blessing Behind Closed Doors.
Blessings
J.P. Olson
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