September 11, 2001. A horrific attack shook the world, affecting countless lives. It was traumatic for the survivors and those who lost loved ones. It was a doorway that everyone had to go through.

Only the Lord knows the doorways of grief and trauma that potentially await us this year.

From Successful to Suffering

The biblical figure Job had to endure terrible and painful doorways. He was blameless and upright according to Job 1:8, yet Satan was permitted to inflict terrible things on this righteous man. In all he endured, Job did not sin lose his faith in God (see Job 1:22).   

Job’s friends’ slander and accuse him as they try to make sense of his suffering. In chapter 19, he tries to defend himself. Through all this, God seems to be silent and preventing Job from finding relief (see Job 19:8). It is evident that God is showing Job that the only way forward is by going through the doorway of suffering.

Suffering can be an intensely lonely time in a person’s life. Job laments that everyone has deserted him (see Job 19:13-19).

As Job is making his plea for mercy, he knows that God has allowed these awful events to happen (see Job 19:21). Job recognizes God has permitted his pain; he doesn’t give Satan any acknowledgment. 

If we learn anything from the account of Job, it is a study in the sovereignty of God. We don’t know why God allows suffering, but ultimately, we know that God has promised to work it all for our good and for His glory. There are countless stories of people who have gone through the doorway of incredible pain and suffering allowing God to use their pain for His glory.

From Pain to Perspective

From verse 25, we notice Job changes his focus. It seems as if he had a prophetic revelation that went millennia ahead of his current situation and points to the redeemer, a portrait of Jesus.

What shifted? Job walked through the doorway of suffering and found that Jesus was right there. God gave Job a revelation of what is to come, the eternal and abundant life that Jesus offers.

While Job was on the inside of the door, he was experiencing excruciating physical pain, trauma and even slander. He was frozen, stuck in his pain and trauma.

But when he took his focus off his immediate situation and turned to the Lord, he walked through the doorway of trauma and found that God was already there. He was not alone; God had never left him (see Deuteronomy 31:8).

From Hurting to Healed

The promise of God’s presence is echoed throughout Scripture, culminating with the giving of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to the church.

Sometimes when we encounter suffering, we freeze, not knowing how to move forward through the door that we are facing. There are times when God seems far off; we get stuck, paralyzed by the trauma or the unknown of living beyond the current painful situation. We cannot see what healing would even look like or how to get through the doorway.

Are you dealing with trauma? Stuck on the threshold of the door, paralyzed by trauma or fear of the unknown?

When you experience trauma that was not your fault and not your choice, God invites you to work through the effect of the trauma. That is what God did for Job; He can do that for you.  Healing will come as you step through the doorway by allowing God to change the effect of the trauma.

From Abandoned to Abundance

Another person in the Bible who experienced incredible trauma was Joseph. He was abandoned and sold into slavery by his own family. But God had other plans, we have this great promise in Genesis 50:19-20, “But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Joseph had been through incredible trauma, but he walked through the doorway of his trauma to the healing on the other side, thus he was able to say, “I am in the place of God”.

The healing took place as God changed the meaning of the past for Joseph.

Today, you may be dealing with the effects of a painful situation, loss of a loved one, violence done to you or someone you love—trauma comes in various forms.

The effects of trauma are far reaching. Often a Christian counselor is necessary to help you walk through that doorway to healing and direct you to look at our Redeemer as Job did.

As you step through the doorway, you will find that God has gone before you, but more than that, He never left you.

As we stand on the brink of a new year, I want to spend the next two weeks focusing on the prospect of changes that we all will be facing in the coming year.

Changes can be likened to doorways. Sometimes doors open to us, and we have the choice to step through them into a life change. It may be a new relationship or a job, or even a new home. Some people will graduate or receive a promotion. Others will retire. New doors can be stressful yet exciting, filled with potential. 

When we as believers face a new doorway, we must have faith to step into the unknown.

Jesus described himself as the door in John 10:1-13. From this passage, we see that Jesus is the only door to eternal life, Jesus is the key to abundant everyday life, and Jesus is our Good Shepherd when we face life-altering doors.

Jesus is the only Door to Eternal Life

In John 10, Jesus declares that he is the only way of salvation; he is the only door to a relationship with God, sadly this doctrine is not widely believed in many Christian circles. A recent survey of 3100 people who claim to be born again Christians found that only 25% believed in the exclusivity of Christ for salvation.

I want to categorically state today that as long as I am called by God to preach the Word of God, I will hold to the truth that Jesus is the only way of salvation. If Jesus was not the only way of salvation, there would be no point in proclaiming the Gospel; it would be irrelevant. Jesus makes the statement in John 10 verse 9 that he is the way of salvation. There are several other verses in the Bible that explicitly declare that Jesus is the only way of salvation (see John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5).

No other religion has a god who did what Jesus did. Jesus is the only savior who stepped down from his throne in heaven and paid the price for our salvation by giving his life as a ransom for our sins. We don’t have to do anything to earn salvation, and we cannot add to our salvation.

Jesus is the Key to Abundant Life in the Daily Doors of Life 

Once we have established that Jesus is the only door to eternal life, how does this knowledge affect our day to day lives in 2025?

Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Jesus came not only to save us but that we may have abundant life. This abundant life begins when we are truly born again and begin our relationship with our Creator.

This abundant life is not exempt from the trials and pain of life; rather, it is a life of peace with God, a life that lives to glorify God and enjoy His presence even in the midst of suffering.

To live this abundant life, we have many daily choices to make. Little choices that either lead to life or produce a slow death in us. Every day we are faced with new doorways as decisions are presented to us.

Doorways of Distraction

There are doorways of distraction: spending hours on social media, online browsing, watching hours of TV, listening to unhelpful podcasts, or the distraction of pornography. These doorways lead to a slow death in us, not eternally speaking, but a numbing of the mind and soul. I challenge you this year to make a radical decision to change what you are feeding on. When you decide what to watch, read, listen to, and consume, ask yourself: is it producing life or death in your heart and mind?

Doorways to Transformation

We have the choice every day to open the doorway to things that are life giving and supernatural. This doorway is opening the Word of God and prayerfully allowing the power of the Word of God to transform our life.

Doorways to Relationship

Then there is the doorway to spending time with another believer, encouraging and being encouraged. There are many doorways of relationships within the Body of Christ that lead to life.

Doorways to Blessing

We are also daily presented with doorways to bless our neighbors. Simply being available to help someone in need as that doorway presents itself and we take a step of faith.

Every day we are faced with doorways that lead to life and other doorways that lead to death. Determine today to live to glorify God by your decisions.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd in the Big Doors of Life 

Every one of us will also face significant doors in 2025, doors that have life-altering implications. Some will have to make significant decisions regarding careers, relationships, relocation, and other life-changing choices.

For every life-changing door we face, we need to know the will of God for our lives. Jesus said in John 10:4, “When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”

As followers of Jesus, we have the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives; He is our counselor. We also have the Word of God that speaks to us. The only way to know the voice of the Good Shepherd is to spend time in his presence, reading the Bible and waiting on him in prayer.

This is why those daily doorways are so important because when you are faced with the significant doorways, you will know the voice of the Good Shepherd. You will know what to do (see Isaiah 30:21).

Sometimes those doorways present themselves suddenly, and we must decide quickly. When that time comes, we need to know the voice of the Lord.

This is walking by faith, looking to Jesus and waiting on him (see Psalm 32:8). When we walk by faith, we’ll see every doorway in light of eternity, believing that the Lord has gone before us and that His plans for us will accomplish our good and for His glory.

There is no downside to going through a door by faith that the Lord has opened.

What doorways are you looking at in 2025? Determine today to begin preparing for that doorway that might present itself. Daily wait on the Lord, listening to his voice, so that when he speaks and opens a door, you will be able to respond in faith.

My wife, Debbie, will readily tell you that I am really bad at waiting. Just watch me at a checkout in the grocery store.

Waiting is seldom humorous. Some of the greatest pain we face in life is because we are waiting. Waiting for dreams to be fulfilled, waiting for God to break through and answer our prayers, waiting for healing or reconciliation.

But God is never in a rush, and we struggle with that at times, don’t we?

Two thousand years ago, the people of Israel were in a period of waiting. They had been promised a Messiah who would redeem them from their oppression and bondage. They had waited through the judges. Waited through the kings. Waited through the prophets. And now, they found themselves waiting through silence.

As hopeless as the situation seemed to be, God was at work. He was orchestrating all of human history to culminate in this one pivotal moment in time—the birth of Jesus.

As difficult as the process may be, there is purpose in waiting. In the space between our hopes and their fulfillment, we have the opportunity to encounter the presence and power of God.

Through Simeon’s Eyes 

In Luke 2:25, we meet an old man by the name of Simeon. Like Anna, Zacharias, and Elizabeth, he was part of a faithful Jewish remnant who were anxiously waiting for the long-prophesied Messiah.

Luke describes Simeon as a man who was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (see verse 25). The “consolation of Israel” means the comfort of Israel or the fulfilment of the prophecies. Simeon longed to see God fulfill His promise of a Redeemer.

Simeon’s Solace

On one seemingly ordinary day at the temple, this old man’s prayers were suddenly answered, but not in the way he would have expected. There was no sweeping move of God, no mighty army from heaven, no victorious liberator. God answered his prayers with a weak baby. We must always remember that salvation is found in a person, not in words spoken or religious duty performed. Salvation will always be realized through a relationship with the person of Jesus. 

God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Lord Christ (see verse 26). It is crucial that each of us, like Simeon, meets the savior before we see death. 

Simeon’s Strength

Luke describes Simeon as a man who was righteous and devout (see verse 25). He was in right standing with God. From what we know, he was neither a priest nor a religious leader, but he was devout in his personal spiritual disciplines. God had favor on him and showed him the Christ child.

Verse 25 ends with a little glimpse of the source of Simeon’s righteousness, saying that “the Holy Spirit was upon him.”The Holy Spirit was Simeon’s source of strength to wait in righteous devotion. When we are waiting, we need the presence of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us.

Simeon’s Song

Simeon took this baby in his arms and began singing. Mary and Joseph must have been a little confused, maybe a little concerned, as a strange old man picked up their baby.

In verse 34, Simeon blesses Mary and Joseph but not Jesus. Jesus didn’t need the blessing of man; he came to be a blessing. Simeon knew exactly who Jesus was saying, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed” (Luke 2:34b).

The promised Messiah had come. Simeon had been waiting a long time, and finally, the light of the world had come. Simeon’s immediate response was to worship, declaring through song who Jesus is and what he had come to do. We are also waiting for Jesus to come again. In fact, all of creation is waiting for Jesus to return in glory (see Romans 8:22-23).

We are a waiting people, but we are not without hope. God is faithful to His promises. Just as He fulfilled His promises to Simeon, so He will fulfill His promises to us. We can wait because we trust in His promises.

Through Our Own Eyes 

What are you waiting for?

• Healing?
• A family member to come to Christ?
• Financial breakthrough?
• To be married?
• To have children?

Waiting is part of the human experience – we cannot avoid it. But God is in the waiting; there is not a moment of waiting that God doesn’t use for His glory and our good if we allow it. And there is not a waiting place where His presence cannot strengthen us.

Our nature is to yearn for things and people and situations so much that we make an idol out of them, thinking they will bring us what we need. We take our eyes off the Lord and betray our trust in Him, putting it in those things instead—that’s idolatry. But nothing outside of Jesus will never fully satisfy us. Sometimes God, in His mercy, makes us wait until the thing we are waiting for is no longer an idol.

God is in the waiting, preparing us, refining us, sanctifying us.

As we celebrate Christmas this week, the fulfillment of God’s promise of Salvation, I urge you to consider, what are you waiting on the Lord for? Are you leaning on His presence to strengthen and sustain you as you wait? Do you believe that He—and only He—can supply your needs according to His riches in glory (see Philippians 4:19)?

Through Eternity’s Eyes

The Bible is full of promises for waiting people.

Psalm 27 is a psalm about waiting. It ends with “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14).

At first reading, it sounds like waiting is passive, a sitting around. But the Hebrew word “EL” translated as “for”, can also be translated as “upon” or “on”. The KJV translation reads, “wait on the Lord…”

When you wait on the Lord, you wait actively in belief that He will come through. You wait on Him as your source and your strength in the waiting. 

Psalm 27:4 invites us to seek the Lord and know His presence as we wait.

“One thing have I asked of the Lord,
     that will I seek after:
 that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
     all the days of my life,
 to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
     and to inquire in his temple”.

David found the secret of waiting in the presence of the Lord, worshipping Him and praising Him. You and I are invited to wait on the Lord in prayer. God promises to meet us and comfort us in our waiting.

As believers, we do not wait without hope. No matter what we are waiting for—and what answer He gives—we can always wait with confident expectation that our heavenly Father will give us good and perfect gifts in His time. We can enter His throne room with that confident expectation because we know and trust Him.

If you do not know the Lord, you will not be able to wait on Him, and you will not experience the satisfaction found in Him when your earthly desires go unmet.

God’s Word promises both strength and a blessing for those who wait on the Lord (see Isaiah 40:31 and 1 Corinthians 2:9). Do you believe that?

In the everyday reality of life, waiting is hard. We can grow discouraged and become despondent. Breakthrough might seem far off; God might seem distant. Many of you know that season; you might be there today.

Here is something that I will hold on to and proclaim as long as I live: no one who waits on the Lord will be disappointed. He will always do what He has promised. He will always work for our good and His glory. And He will always supply our deepest needs.

What are you waiting on the Lord for today?