THE MAN WITH THE KEY
It was 1989; I was desperate. I began in the wee hours of the mornings to take my Bible, clutch it to my heart in tears and sit before the LORD. I was at my wit’s end. I had no idea what to do. On this particular morning, my Bible opened up to the prayer in Joel 2 about the priests, the ministers of the LORD praying between the porch and the altar. It struck me very hard that in the prayer the priests said that their enemies were saying to them “Where is your God?” I was stunned when I saw this because someone had recently been saying that very thing to me.
It was my custom in those dark days to drive twice a day to my local church after dropping the children at school, park outside on the high ridge and talk to God. I did this every day, twice a day for a year. I had to get hold of God. His word said if we would draw near to Him that He would draw near to us. I felt like Zaccheus who climbed up in the Sycamore tree to see Jesus. Every time I drove up on the high ridge to the church it became a cry of desperation. By doing this, I was saying, “LORD, see me! LORD, hear me! LORD, help me!”
March 1990 I had to have surgery and was not allowed to drive. My prayer partner offered to drive me to the church so I could pray. The scripture in Joel continued to come to my mind. “I need to pray between the porch and the altar,” I said that day. When we got to the church, my prayer partner said, “I will check the doors; perhaps someone has left one unlocked. But please know that I don’t think you are going to get in. Don’t be disappointed.” She checked the doors returning shaking her head saying that everything was locked up tight. “Sorry, but everything is locked. You can’t get in.”
“But I know that the LORD has given me this prayer to pray and I am desperate. God can do anything. Will you agree together with me that He will have mercy and open the door?” Reluctantly, out of pity, she agreed bowing her head while I petitioned heaven.
Suddenly, there was a tapping on the Driver’s window. A kind-faced man was leaning down motioning that he needed to speak to us. The man said, “I was driving by and saw your car. The LORD told me you might need to get inside the church. I don’t go to this church but I sing with a quartet at this church and I have a key. Do you need to get in?” It was incredulous to me because in the year I had been praying there daily no one had ever stopped before, not once.
The man handed us the key, nodded his head and drove away. We sat there for a few minutes awestruck staring at the key. We took the key to the front door, and let ourselves in. There was no doubt in our minds that it was the LORD HIMSELF that had opened that door. I was able not only to get inside the church but I was able to pray between the porch and the altar just like the priests in the book of Joel were instructed to do.
God saw.
God heard.
God honored his Word (Matthew 18:19).
Do you need a man with a key?
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jeremiah 33:3