Sometimes God Closes Doors

Have you ever found yourself seeking God’s will? You wanted to do what was right, and you pursued what you thought was good, but it just didn’t work out or every time you tried to move forward, you would fall two steps backward?

When I was a younger man and even as an adolescent, I was wracked with the question: what is God’s will for me? I prayed, and I prayed, and I prayed. Eventually, I understood that God wanted me to preach, but then I did not know how or where. Was I to be a missionary? An itinerant evangelist? A street preacher? Being a pastor was the last thing on my list because I did not trust the Lord enough to have faith in what He was calling me to do.

Or was that it?

Perhaps the Lord was not permitting me to reach the location and time of my calling because it was not yet the providential time. Maybe the Lord knew what He was doing all along and every time I prayed, a door closed that I desperately wanted to be open, and a window opened that I was not faithful enough to see?

Forbidden to preach?

In this passage of Acts 16:6-10, Paul and Silas attempt to go into Asia to carry the gospel. Now, they were already on the continent of Asia, albeit on the fringes, but the region they were in encompassed the provinces of Galatia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, and Asia. After linking up with the churches they had planted in Phrygia and Galatia, namely in the cities of Derbe and Lystra, the missionary team determined to continue west into the province of Asia. But the scripture says in verse 6: they “were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.”

Two things jump out at me from this passage, and they are:

the Holy Ghost forbade them to preach the gospel?

Paul was sensitive to the Holy Ghost to discern His will

To speak on the first point, we need to realize the sovereignty of God and the freedom that only He enjoys in His calling people to the ministry as well as calling people to believe.

Why, oh why, would the Holy Spirit forbid them to preach the Gospel to anyone? After all, they were already in the vicinity and it was the most logical location to take the Gospel on the road to.

The Lord’s ways are not our ways, (Isaiah 55:8–9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”) however, and He made it very clear to Paul and Silas that it was not the right time to go into Asia. So they turned their eyes towards Bithynia to the north, seeking to go the next closest region on the fringes of the Black Sea.

But again, the Spirit of the Lord would not permit them. So they travel to Troas, which was on the coast of the Aegean Sea and in the province of Asia.

So the Lord sent them through Asia, all the way to the port city of Troas on the western edge of Asia, but did not permit them to preach the Gospel along the way! And when they reached Troas, the Lord gave Paul a vision.

Before we talk about the vision, we need to look at the faith and obedience of Paul and Silas.

we see them seeking the Lord’s direction, even when it would seem obvious to us that they were doing the right thing

when the Lord does not allow them to do what they wanted and thought was next, they complied. They did not argue with the Lord or think they knew better, but simply obeyed. And this happened twice: with Asia and Bithynia

on his return trip, Paul and Silas do pass through Asia again and finally are able to preach the Gospel and they establish the church in Ephesus. Later, churches are founded in Smyrna and Sardis, both in this same region

so for whatever reason the Lord has, He did not allow the people of this region to hear the Gospel until it was the appointed time

The Macedonian Call

As Paul, Silas, and now Luke and Timothy, wait in Troas for the Spirit’s guidance, Paul receives a vision in the middle of the night. In this vision, a man of Macedonia appears before him. This man is standing before Paul begging him to, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”

There are times when the calling of God is so obvious that it seems as if He is speaking aloud and specifically to you.

You may have experienced this when you were called to repentance and salvation.

Perhaps you have been called to a specific ministry or mission.

I am reminded of the ministry of Hudson Taylor, a young doctor from England who began to be burdened for the nation of China when he said he heard the voice of God *almost* audibly say, “Go for me to China.” He then spent the next 54 years ministering and preaching Christ to the people of that mighty and dark nation.

This is not unlike my own calling to the ministry of the Lord.

But the voice that cried from Macedonia did not know what they needed, only that they needed help.

Macedonia and it’s neighbors Greece and Rome were known for their pursuit of intellect and religion. They were at the pinnacle of culture, and much of their scientific and philosophical discoveries are still in use today because of their value. But despite all they had and knew, they were suffering and dying in their separation from Christ, and Paul held the keys to salvation in the message of the Gospel!

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 16

This voice cries from heathendom still to the Christian Church, and never does the Church undertake the work of missions, nor any missionary go forth from it, in the right spirit, save in obedience to this cry.

When Paul saw the vision and heard the voice crying for help, they immediately made plans to head across the Aegean Sea to the shores of Macedonia

Paul and Silas were not only sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s “NO” but they were responsive to his “YES.”

they were standing at the ready, anxious to jump when the Spirit said GO

They were able to do this because they were ready

they were not wasting their days playing frivolent games, goofing off, sleeping all day

they were not engaged in idle chatter and debates with their neighbors at the inn or on the street

they were not distracted by the political debates or social outcries of the society

they were not so busy with their careers or bogged down by finances

they may not have locked themselves in a room just waiting for the Lord to speak, but they were assuredly focused on Him and waiting for the word to go

They knew the voice of the Spirit

because they were faithful and righteous men who spoke to and heard from the Lord, they recognized His voice

yes, He spoke through a vision of a man from Macedonia, but Paul knew beyond a shadow of a doubt this was a message from the Lord

Jesus said “my sheep hear my voice, and they know it.”

Paul’s mission had been made clear to him way back in Damascus all those years prior: be Christ’s messenger to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). The fact the Lord forbade him to preach to the Gentiles in Asia, while certainly disappointing and perhaps frustrating, could only mean one thing: there were other Gentiles the Lord had in mind, or that he was to sit and wait for the Lord to approve him preaching to the ones around him. And as we see later, the Lord did allow him to preach in Troas multiple times, as well as the other cities in the province of Asia. Just not yet.

Perhaps you are called of God to a specific ministry or vocation. Maybe you have known this for quite some time, or perhaps just today the Lord is speaking to your heart, “Go for me to China. Go for me to India. Go for me to college. Go for me to the jails, or the nursing homes, or the neighborhoods and preach the Gospel. Go for me to your workplace.” Or, perhaps He may be saying, “Stay for me here and wait. Stay for me here and teach Sunday School. Stay for me here and lead the music. Stay for me here and drive the bus.”

Whatever the Lord is saying to you, here is some words of wisdom: be attentive to His voice. Know Him well so you know His voice, above and louder than all other voices. And wait on His timing and His direction.

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man...but God’s ways are higher than our ways.

Hebrews 3:7–8 LSB

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

Dear sinner, if you hear His voice today, calling you to repentance and salvation by the blood of Jesus Christ, do not harden your heart, but turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!