6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul[a] had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:5-10 ESV)
At times in life, a door may get closed even when we think we are directly in God’s will and moving to His plan. Paul got thwarted in his plan to spread the gospel twice and was then given a new vision on just where God wanted him to go.
Maybe you are facing a similar circumstance where the way before you has been blocked or all the doors seem to be closing. Some times we just need to wait on God to provide us with a new path forward. Our scripture does not say how long Paul waited for this vision, but as in many other cases in scripture, we can be pretty sure it did not happen in a 24 hour period.
At times like this we do need to be taking a hard look at our lives. We need to make sure there is no uncontested sin or repetitive sin in our lives. No, we are not living sinless lives but we do need to make sure that we are not the cause of our stoppage.
In any event, we can be sure that God will come through in the right place at the right time.
