In 1931, five months after being ordained and employed full time in the ministry by the Church of God headquartered in Stanberry, Missouri, Herbert W. Armstrong lost his job. The Oregon Conference treasury was running dry, and the conference needed to let two of its three ministers go; Mr. Armstrong was one of them. He had a young family to provide for, so losing his $20 a week salary was a big blow.

But Mr. Armstrong wasn’t worried. Through previous answered prayers in tests and trials, he had learned to trust God. He knew that God promised to provide their needs, but he still needed to learn about how God provides.

As he wrote in his autobiography, he “had not yet learned that everything that happens is not, necessarily, from God.” Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between an open door and a trap.

After he prayed for God to provide, it seemed that opportunity came knocking. An old associate from his former career in advertising showed up at Mr. Armstrong’s door with a proposition. The associate had started a newspaper in Astoria and he was having a terrible time selling advertising space. The newspaper was failing, and he begged Mr. Armstrong to come work as their advertising manager for $25 a week.

Mr. Armstrong knew he couldn’t accept the job permanently since God had called him into the ministry. But this seemed to be an answered prayer, a way to make ends meet until the Oregon Conference could pay him again. He agreed to come out to Astoria and help for one month only.

It turned out the situation in Astoria was far worse than he thought. Selling ad space was nearly impossible due to unfair practices of a larger competing newspaper. Even with all his resourcefulness, Mr. Armstrong couldn’t break the newspaper out of the predicament in one month. Making matters worse, the newspaper employed 23 men who would lose their jobs if he left. Having stepped away from his true calling for a moment, Mr. Armstrong found himself trapped in Astoria. His one-month deviation turned into a grueling 15-month detour.

Thankfully, God can use even our mistakes to teach us invaluable lessons.

“I was to have to learn two basic requirements of God before He can use one for an important commission in His great master plan working out His purpose here below,” he later wrote: “1) Not only must God’s instrument ‘preach the Word faithfully,’ but having been plunged by Christ into God’s Work, he must never turn back (Luke 9:62). And 2) he must rely on God, and not man, for his need—in, not out of God’s Work. The real work started only after I learned these lessons!”

“… No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). With any opportunity, we need to ask ourselves: If I do this, am I keeping my hand on the plow? Am I still working toward God’s purpose for me? Am I still doing God’s Work? If the answer is yes, we can have confidence it’s an open door from God. If no, then put your head back down and keep working where God has placed you.

Mr. Armstrong had to learn the hard way not to let anything distract him from the Work. We need to learn this lesson too and keep our hand on the plow.