Timmy the Explorer

If you have been following the exploits of my son Timmy (either on my Facebook author page or here on Manna for Moms), you know by now that he is an explorer. Which is a nice way to say he is into everything.

One of the things that seems to be especially exciting for him is doors. I think in Timmy’s mind, he is convinced that just on the other side of any door lies something marvelous. So he spends a lot of time opening cabinets and drawers, banging them closed, opening them again, and playing with whatever he finds inside. (And then leaving it on the floor for someone else to pick up.)

He also has hearing like a bat. Whenever I open an exciting door such as the refrigerator door or the front door to our home, Timmy heads toward it like a rocket. He loves to go outside or to scale the shelves in the refrigerator. The other day, we didn’t realize that he had somehow removed a package of lunch meat from the fridge while he was climbing it. We later found the empty package on my bedroom floor. The ham from the package was under a nearby blanket.

The point is that Timmy regards any open door as an invitation to head right on through. He doesn’t seem to stop to question whether or not he should go through the door; he just goes, in the confident expectation that grand adventure awaits him on the other side.

Too bad we can’t be more like Timmy when it comes to doors God opens for us.

I don’t mean that we should indiscriminately head through every open door; we need to consider which doors have been opened for us by God. But when God has opened a door for us, we need to head right on through, in the confident expectation that something grand awaits us.

Too often, though, we’re like Moses. We see an open door, and we say, “I can’t do that, God. You see, I (fill in the blank with whatever excuse comes to mind).”

I’m not smart enough. I don’t know how. I’m not as good at it as so-and-so.

Do we really think that the God who calls us to go through the door doesn’t know our limitations? And if Almighty God, knowing our weaknesses, commands us to walk through the door, who are we to make any excuse at all? Especially when He’s promised to go with us and enable us every step of the way to perform that which He’s told us to do?

Someone might laugh at me. People might not understand. I might lose friends (or family).

Okay, this one is a little tougher. We all know that it can be incredibly painful when people make fun of us. When they imply, or say it straight out, that we’re doing something stupid. When they desert us.

But God doesn’t ask us to do anything alone. He goes with us. And not only does He walk with us and in us, but He will also fill us with all the love, peace, and companionship that Almighty God is capable of (which is a LOT more than mere human beings can do). Yes, we might lose some relationships. We might be on the receiving end of some pretty hurtful actions. But God longs to fill our empty places with Himself. So if our heart is left a little more empty by someone who has damaged his or her relationship with us, or broken that relationship, that only leaves another spot in our heart that is now available to be filled by God. This is not a net loss.

I’m afraid. This will be hard.

It’s okay to be afraid. God understands that we will sometimes be afraid of doing what He’s asked us to do, or that we will only be able to do it with much agony and trembling. Look at Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane right before His arrest that led to His crucifixion. He was so anguished in His spirit that He sweat blood. Yet He still walked through the door. And the Jesus who showed a mind-blowing level of courage in allowing the soldiers to take Him captive and later crucify Him is the same Jesus who will grant us the same courage to walk through the door we need to go through.

So let’s walk through the door He sets before us. But let’s not fix our eyes on what we’re afraid might await us on the other side, or what we’re certain will await us. Let’s walk through that door with our eyes fixed on the God who called us, trusting Him to guide us every step of the way, as we walk through the door and then beyond.

Revelation 3:8—“I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (ESV)

Hebrews 12:2—Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (KJV)

2 Corinthians 4:18—So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (NIV)