Open Doors

Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle.
—Psalm 24:7-8

Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few.” —2 Kings 4:3

What an odd request. Collect a lot of empty jars?

But God had a plan. He used that emptiness to provide for the widow for the duration of the famine that had swept the land.

There is something about emptiness that gets God’s attention.

It may be that when we are empty — when we have nothing left to survive on. When we’ve exhausted all of our ideas and plans, and throw ourselves at His feet, the perfect conditions finally exist for Him to do what only He can do. In those moments, He pours into us wave after wave of provision, blessing, and grace.

It was only after I had given up hope of ever overcoming addiction that had hounded me for over four decades, and surrendered completely to Him, that I finally found freedom. That is when I discovered a whole new love for Scripture. I rode that wave of surrender into an intimacy that I had never known was possible. I found that I could hear His voice during my reading, while I paused in prayer, and even when speaking with friends. I suddenly saw God everywhere.

In Psalm 24, David is tapping into a beautiful reality in our relationship with our Creator.

Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! David is speaking to the city gate — telling it to open wide to allow this “LORD mighty in battle” to enter in. The “LORD mighty in battle” refers to the Champion returning from his victory.

Most of us have no concept of living in the fear that was not uncommon in David’s day. When their enemy advanced toward their city, there was a very real possibility that if defeated, the people would face slavery, exile, or even death. So as their Champion [or King] and his army left the city to meet the enemy in battle, all the hope of the people behind the gate rested on the shoulders of this Champion. As he fared, they fared. Their fate was completely out of their hands.

It is easy to understand then, that when he returned in victory, the celebration was unbridled.

This is the scene David is referencing. The triumphant return of the victorious King. David calls to the gates to open wide to make way. His terminology expresses the idea of opening fully — not allowing any hindrance to the festive parade.

But David is not talking about a Champion who defeated the enemy in the field and rescued the inhabitants of a gated city. He is calling to places deep within himself to open wide to allow God — David's champion — to enter his heart. Again, the language he uses makes it clear that he is determined that nothing will hinder God’s Spirit from moving freely through the gate to inhabit David’s entire being.

This was the confidence of a king who had given up trying to win under his own strength — a king who found his victory in seeking the God of his salvation.

David had emptied himself of himself.

But he doesn’t stop there. He goes on to seemingly repeat the prayer:

Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. —Psalm 24:9-10

But there are subtle differences in the two prayers. In verse 7, he said, “be lifted up,” which is an acknowledgment that the gates would lift. In verse 9, he clarifies, “lift them up.” This signifies an active role in the lifting. It’s as if he prayed, “Let them be lifted up... No! Step aside and I will lift them up.”

This speaks to me of a desire that became a determination. An acknowledgment that the gates would open, followed by the compulsion to be involved in the lifting. This opening of the door to his heart became personal.

And note the different description of God in the two prayers. The LORD mighty in battle speaks of a Champion who won a battle. The LORD of hosts speaks of the God who commands all the heavenly armies.

God doesn’t just defeat the enemy who is presently at the gate. He sits as the Victorious King over all the battles that have — or ever will — occur. He has already won all of our battles.

Come, behold the works of the LORD, Who has wrought desolations in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire. —Psalm 46:8-9

When we offer our lives as living sacrifices, and give up our efforts to navigate the world on our own, and to fight our own battles, we have prepared the path for God to enter and lead us to ultimate victory.

We pray, “LORD, open my heart.” But David doesn’t stop at asking. He reaches for the gates himself — throwing them wide — determined that nothing within him will resist the King’s entrance. Not a crack. Not a cautious welcome. But a full surrender. An opening so complete that the King of glory finds no barrier — only room to reign.