We have all heard the saying, "When one door closes, another door opens," and we may have quoted it to someone to encourage them. In other words, we are saying, "Don't give up; keep looking." The person credited with being its originator is Alexander Graham Bell. As is often the case, famous quotes are taken out of context, or are misquoted in some way. Bell's is no exception. His original statement was, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Bell was not simply trying to discourage others from giving up; he was warning that by focusing upon the loss, they will be blinded to the many opportunities that await them.
Christians usually change the quote by saying, "When God closes one door, He always opens another." This is not only meant to encourage, but it is stating that everything that happens is controlled by God. Since we know we can trust Him (22 times in Psalms alone), and we know it is His will to provide for His children (Matt. 6:25-32), it is logical to believe He is making a change in our circumstances which is for our own good (Rom. 8:28-29). In other words, our Christian journey is constantly taking us through doors; it is God that determines if the door in front of us is an exit or an entrance.
Unfortunately, there are some circumstances where God closes one door, and there are no other doors. In Genesis 7:16, God shut the one and only door there was, and a world filled with living, breathing creatures died. There was no second door. There was no other Ark. Time had run out.
Another example of God closing a door on an entire population is found in Genesis 19. The angels pulled Lot into the house and shut the door before striking the entire city with blindness. Perhaps that could be said for the population in Noah's day, as well as for the population left behind at the time of the Rapture; God strikes those who rejected Him with blindness. He has used the infirmity before, and He has caused His people, Israel, to experience temporary blindness today (Rom. 11:25). It is not difficult to see that God's plan includes Satan's ability to blind mankind for His own purposes (Jn. 12:40; Rom. 11:7; 2 Cor. 314; 4:4).
According to 2 Corinthians 4:4, Satan, "...the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." Just as in the case where the angels blinded the eyes of lost men so they could not see the door of Lot's house, the fallen angel blinds the eyes of lost men so they can not see The Door. Jesus said, "I Am The Door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" (Jn. 10:9). With the definite article, "The," it is clear that there is only one Door. And as in the case of the Ark, one must enter in through the only Door, Jesus. There is no other way (Jn. 14:6)! When the one Door closes, that's it; there are not other doors!
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