The Danger of “Open Doors”
…for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. -Proverbs 7:26
Samantha was lonely. There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t pray for God to bring her a companion. In one particular season of ache, she decided to fast until God provided “the one”.
She skipped breakfast the next day and decided to dedicate that time to praying for Mr. Right. No, not Mr. Wright her physics professor—though I’m sure he could use the prayers. I’m talking about the Mr. Right who she hopes will make her Mrs. Samantha Right.
Lo and behold, as she stands in line for a late morning coffee (that wasn’t part of the fast), a handsome gent accidentally bumps into her as he is putting sugar and cream in her coffee…just the way she likes her coffee too. He apologizes like the kind beau he is, and they strike up a bit of a conversation. I’d tell you all about their conversation but my source, Samantha, was so lost in his entrancing green eyes that she barely caught his name.
This felt like a great connection but she failed to get his phone number as well as to give him hers. That seemed a bit too forward. She skipped out on lunch—attempting to pray but really only thinking about the green-eyed chap who body blocks his way to the sugar and cream. Will they ever see each other again?
As she goes to her car that evening, she is startled to find that her Prince Charming had parked right next to her. This was clearly God answering her prayers. This couldn’t have been a coincidence. When he asked her out for lunch, she excitedly said yes—and happily ending her one day fast.
Their first few dates were amazing. He was ever bit the Prince Charming that she had prayed for. Within only a month or two they were deeply in love. He checked off so many of the boxes she was looking for…well, except one. He wasn’t a believer. It’s not that he was opposed to the Lord, but he just wasn’t all that interested. She kept praying about it and had peace through the whole thing.
After a few months he asked her to move in with him. She felt a little uncomfortable with this suggestion but she kept praying about it—and save for a few niggling moments, she mostly had peace about the whole thing. Then some of the red flags started popping up. But red flags and green eyes make yellow.
They’ve been together for close to a year now. She’s stopped going to church. Reading her Bible is stale. And most of her Christian friends have been replaced with her green- eyed monster. She’s a shell of who she was a year ago, barely praying. And yet as she keeps praying there are still little glimmers of hope and open doors all along. She’s walked through every open door. This, she’ll say, is clearly God’s will.
I’ve counseled more than a few Samantha’s. I’ve even found myself in that place before. What does all of this have to do with Proverbs 7? Well, you can imagine all of the “open doors” that he encountered from his trek from lattice to front porch to bedroom to grave. Russell Moore speaks of this
Russell Moore in his new book Tempted and Tried offers wise counsel on “open-door theology”:
The foolish son in Proverbs 7 received step-by-step what he wanted. Everything, from the adulteress’s desire for him to her husband’s coincidental out-of-town journey, all fell into place. It must have felt like serendipity. Sometimes Christians make decisions based on seeing opportunities come open. In our spiritual lingo we often talk about “open doors” and “closed doors” and “seeing where God is at work” in circumstances, as evidence of God’s leading us to do something or other. There’s a sense in which that’s wisdom, observing the situation around us in order to make a decision. But sometimes people will assume the “open doors” in their lives are all signals to go forward. How could it not be right when everything just seems to be fitting together perfectly? But what if something wicked is just ahead of you, opening those doors for you, right down to the chambers of hell? (Russell Moore, Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ, 48-49)
Just because “everything works out” doesn’t necessarily mean it is “God’s will”. In fact, it is never wise to assume that something is God’s will whenever it is directly contrary to Scripture. An “open door” will never have more authority than Scripture.