When I was 16, my church youth group went to Youth America, a church camp, in Oklahoma City. It worked out that the rooms at the camp weren't finished and we somehow got a hotel and shuttle provided. One night, after we got back from camp, several of us went downstairs for something. When we were going back up to our rooms, the competitive nature of one of my roommates and myself took over, and we began to race. I honestly couldn't tell you who won the race, but I remember bursting through the door, only to find ourselves standing in the middle of the room, looking at four strangers. It didn't take us long to realize our mistake. Our room was on the third floor, and we were currently standing in the room directly below ours, on the second floor. I'm sure the race to get out of that room was probably way more exciting than the race to get in.
This wasn't the first time, or last time I ever walked through the wrong door. Right around that same time, my best friend let me walk into and use a women's restroom. He thought it would be funny not to tell me. I must have really had to go, because I didn't pay any attention to the sign (or the fact that there weren't any urinals in the bathroom). Isn't that life though? It happens all the time that people walk through the wrong doors. I've walked through wrong hotel doors, wrong bathroom doors, wrong classroom doors, and even walked through a closed screen door once. Typically, those aren't the doors that hurt. In my life though, I have walked through doors that did. A door that lead to rebelion, a door that lead to hate, a door that lead to sexual sin, a door that lead to bad relationships, a door that lead to divorce, a door that lead to a feeling of failure, etc...all of those doors that lead to nowhere good.
When my friend and I ran through that door in the hotel, we made a mistake. We shifted our focus, lost sight of where we were going, and chose the wrong door. We shouldn't have. There are things outside of a hotel room that help you identify if you have the right room or not. They're called room numbers. We made a mistake and chose the wrong door, but the good news was, there was a way out.
I've heard the saying, when God closes one door, he opens another. I do believe that God opens doors, but at the same time, those aren't the ONLY doors available. Remember the old game show Let's Make A Deal? The host would bring out a couple of boxes, and one could be really big, and the other really small. The contestant would have to choose a box, and would get whatever was inside. Instinctually, we would probably want to choose the box the size of say...a NEW CAR, and leave the box the size of a rock. Sometimes it worked out, but I remember seeing an episode once where the contestant chose the big box, the one the size of the car, and it contained a farm animal, while the small box contained something of value. In the same way, while God is opening doors, Satan will try to fool us with doors of his own. We might think that whatever is through that door is fun or gratifying, but it might come at a cost. (Remember the door he presented to Eve?) The cost might be your marriage, your body, or your relationship with God. The good news though is, there is a way out!!
Whatever wrong door you've gone through, understand you are not stuck inside. You can get out. We've all walked through wrong doors, but God is there to help. 1 Corintians 10:13 msg "No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it." If you're stuck, get out. You can do it. Get on the right track, and talk to God before walking through the next open door.
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