In Romans 1, Paul writes from Ephesus while getting ready to head east to Jerusalem. But he writes this prayer request west to Rome: “I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you” (verse 10). Paul prayed that “the way may be opened … so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong — that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith” (verses 10-12).

Those were Paul’s prayer requests, but then he went east instead of west. Once in Jerusalem, he was arrested and imprisoned in Caesarea for two years. When he finally sailed for Rome, he was shipwrecked. Between the writing of his epistle to the Romans and the time Paul arrived in Rome, at least three years had passed. The church at Rome had never met Paul and must have wondered: For an apostle, he sure doesn’t get very quick answers to his prayers.

Even after Paul arrived in Rome, he was under house arrest for two more years. By the time Acts ends, five years had gone by since Paul wrote the Roman letter. What was happening?

Rather than being frustrated by a closed door, try rejoicing.

Acts closes in A.D. 63, and just one year later, in A.D. 64, Nero started persecuting the church. He nailed Christians to crosses and set them on fire to illuminate his gardens at night.

The Lord knew Christians were going to face immense suffering just over the horizon. So what did He do? He took His model servant, Paul, and sent him through a five-year trial so that out of his life would come the letters that would encourage the Church during its season of suffering — Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus. Before Paul experienced that period in his life, he could not have written those passages.

God didn’t answer Paul’s initial prayer with “Yes.”  But neither did he give Paul an absolute “No.” God said, “Wait.” Before Paul was imprisoned, he wrote to the Romans, “We know that in all things God works for the good” (Romans 8:28). He would, over the next five years, live out that truth as a prisoner. So be careful what you preach … you may have to live it!

As a leader, you’re always pressing for things to happen. When you encounter what feels like a slammed door, there are times you need to recognize the Holy Spirit has closed that door only for the moment. Rather than being frustrated, try rejoicing. It’s God’s way of redirecting you, so don’t give up.

In the words of my favorite poem, “Plod on, plod on, plod on, plod on, plod on, plod on.” That’s the first verse, and every verse is the same. My dorm mother wrote that in my college yearbook when I was a freshman, and it has become the poem for my life. Try it for yourself: Just keep plodding.

Adapted from the book Road Trip Leadership: Mileposts Along My Way in Ministry (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 2011).