My friend, let me tell you about the day the lights went out—not just the load-shedding that plunges our Akasia home into darkness, but the lights of my own plans. I had a good job, a clear path. Then, the corporate "restructuring" came like a sudden Highveld storm, and the door I was headed for slammed shut. I stood there, in the silent house, the only light coming from my phone's screen, staring at the termination email. My heart pounded on that closed door. I mourned. I felt a familiar South African despair—the kind that whispers that opportunities are scarce, that a closed door is a final sentence.
But God was about to show me that my fixation on the closed door was a form of spiritual blindness. My eyes were so full of the darkness of that shut entrance that I could not see the new, divine detour He had already illuminated. This is not just positive thinking; it is a deep, biblical, and philosophical truth about the nature of God's providence.
The Tyranny of the Single Door and the Shepherd's Voice
We live in a culture that worships at the altar of the linear plan. We are taught that success is a straight line from A to B. A university degree, a career, a house. When that line breaks, we panic. We believe the lie that the closed door was our only opportunity. This is a tyranny of the singular vision.
But is our God so limited? Does the Creator of the breathtaking diversity of our nation—from the Drakensberg to the Karoo—only have one narrow path for His children? The Scripture declares unequivocally in Proverbs 16:9, "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps" . You see the difference? We make the plan, we fixate on the door, but God is the one who directs the footsteps. He is less concerned with the door and more with the direction of your walk.
This is where we must sound the alarm against the error of equating God's will with our own blueprint for success. It is a subtle form of idolatry where we worship the plan rather than the Planner. We want a God of guaranteed outcomes; He offers us a relationship of guided trust.
The Rational Road: A Logical Defense of Divine Detours
Let us define our terms clearly. A "detour," in the world's eyes, is a frustrating deviation, a waste of time. A "divine detour," in God's economy, is the actual, intended route for our sanctification and His glory. How can we, as thinking believers, confidently assert this?
The argument can be formulated with logical precision:
1. Premise 1: God is both supremely sovereign (Ephesians 1:11) and supremely good (Psalm 136:1).
2. Premise 2: A sovereign, good God does not waste the experiences of His children (Romans 8:28).
3. Premise 3: A "closed door" is an experience in the life of a believer.
4. Conclusion: Therefore, a closed door, permitted by a sovereign and good God, is not wasted but is repurposed for our good and His glory. It is not a detour from His plan but a part of it.
A common objection is, "But if God is good, why would He allow the pain of a closed door—a job loss, a failed relationship, a financial setback?" However, this fails because it assumes that comfort is the highest good. The biblical witness shows that God's highest goal is not our comfort, but our Christ-likeness. The Refiner's fire is not comfortable for the gold, but it is essential for its purity. The story of Joseph in Genesis is a masterclass in this: what men intended for evil, God intended for good (Genesis 50:20). The prison doors that closed on him were not the end of his story; they were the divine detour that led to the salvation of nations.
The South African Scene: Finding God's Path in Our Complex Land
Now, let's bring this home. We are not talking in abstract terms. We walk this truth in the dusty, complex, and beautiful streets of South Africa. We see political promises that seem to lead to closed doors after every election cycle . We hear the rhetoric of hopelessness. We see our brothers and sisters in Christ, members of movements like Abahlali baseMjondolo, facing unimaginable opposition as they advocate for basic dignity . It is easy to stare at the closed doors of justice and economic opportunity and pound on them until our fists are raw.
But look around! In that very tension, God is opening windows. He is raising up a different kind of church right here. While mainline denominations see a steady decline, there is a significant growth in African indigenous churches and Pentecostal groups . Why? Because they speak to a longing for a faith that is not a relic of a colonial past but a vibrant, authentic expression of African identity and the power of the Holy Spirit . This is not a detour from "real" Christianity; it is the road God is building for such a time as this. It is a faith that brings the truth of Jesus into the real struggles—the pit latrines that threaten our children , the gender-based violence that shatters our communities , the xenophobia that divides us . The closed door of a quiet, privatized faith has forced us to turn around and see the open window of a faith that engages all of life.
The Unseen Strategy: The Mind of Christ in Our March
So, what is the actionable intelligence for this spiritual campaign? It is to cultivate the mind of Christ. The world sees a closed door and sees defeat. Jesus Christ saw the closed tomb and saw a victory that shattered death itself. This is the ultimate divine detour: the cross seemed like a catastrophic closed door to the disciples, but it was the only path to the open window of eternal salvation.
Therefore, I challenge you today. That thing you are mourning—the lost job, the failed venture, the rejected application—I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, stop staring at it! Your future is not there. It is waiting in a different direction. Turn around.
Look up. See the open window of service in your local church. See the new path of a business idea that serves your community. See the greater opportunity to trust God in a way you never have before. Your testimony is not about the door that closed; it is about the faithfulness of God on the road He opened.
The door that closed was not your destiny. It was a divine detour. And your faithful, all-powerful God has already gone ahead of you on this new road. Walk in it.
Be comforted in Christ's care, convicted of the sin of distrust, and confident that the rational foundations of your faith can bear the weight of your journey. Now, go. Your future is waiting.
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