When All Seems LostSample

Shut Your Door

2 Kings 4:4 NIV "Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

When God is still busy working it out, "shut your door" to external voices. Shut your door to seemingly sound opinions when God has clearly told you what to do. Don't try to make sense of it. Don't let anyone talk you out of it. Don't try to fit it into your logical frame. Don't try to rationalise it, just shut the door, and do as you've been told. There's wisdom in letting God finish what he started before sharing it with the world. The miracle is not the process; the miracle is the result. Don't share a potential testimony prematurely.

The human attempt to capture the acts of God through the lens of rationalism, logic, and intellectualism is a major contributor to the agnostic's worldview. Faith and intelligence are sometimes at loggerheads. Elisha said to the widow, "...shut the door...and pour the oil", in other words, the input of external voices and opinions on what you are about to experience may stand in the way of your miracle. Don't let anyone talk you out of your breakthrough. You don't need an expert opinion on this. You don't need seemingly sound and highly intellectual suggestions, just obedience.

The rational man says, "How can I do what I don't understand?" The spiritual man says, "I don't have to understand to believe it." When you walk with God, many things will not make sense, and they don't have to; that is where faith and complete surrender comes in.

Naaman was a Syrian army general, but afflicted with leprosy. The prophet said to him, "Go and bathe in the River Jordan seven times, and you will be healed." It seems illogical, it seems absurd. The General was about to walk away when his servant said to him, in paraphrase, "Master, what do you have to lose? All he asks you to do is go to the river, wash yourself, and you will be clean." Thank God the General obeyed, and his leprosy was cured.

Now, I need to clarify. While being receptive to prophetic instructions is important, it is also very crucial to have a deep personal walk and relationship with God. There are charlatans and false prophets, so we need to be careful. When we are desperate, we believe anything. Study your Bible, pray for the Spirit of discernment, and seek the peace of God.