Unlocking Doors

"I can't open the door," Vince told me.

"Why not?"  I asked him.

"Because it is locked."

I went to the door of the boy's bedroom.  It certainly was locked.  It wasn't supposed to be locked, particularly with no one inside, but it was.

"Vince, did you lock it?"  I asked him.

"No," he answered.

"Did you lock it Elliot?"  I asked my younger son.

"Yes, Dad,"  Elliot said.  "I didn't want Vince to go in there."  Elliot is a little prone to doing things that aren't exactly well thought out.

I went and got something to pick the lock.  As I went to insert it into the door knob, I found that it wouldn't go.  A very small nail had been inserted into the knob and completely blocked me from getting to the lock mechanism.

"Elliot, did you put this nail in here?"

"I was trying to unlock the door," he said as a way of explanation.

I was pretty frustrated at this point.  It was time for the boys to go to sleep and I couldn't get into their room even to get their pajamas.

I tried to move the nail, or pull it out -- unsuccessfully.  The door's hinges were on the other side so that wasn't a way into the room, either.  "I'm sorry boys," I told them.  "I can't get the door open.  I'm going to put you to sleep downstairs."

They were both a little upset when I left them in the bed to return to working on the door.  I finally managed to slip a straight pin past the nail head and wiggled it till the door clicked open.  I took the knob off and extracted the nail, while Elaine went down to bring the boys up to get changed and sleep in their own beds.

As they were coming up the stairs, Vince told her:  "I was praying that God would unlock the door."

The night before we had sung a song with words by Fanny Crosby:  'Prayer is the Key.'  The chorus says: 

 

Prayer is the key, the only key,

to heaven's unfailing store.

Faith is the hand that guides our own,

but prayer unlocks the door.

 

I had explained to my children how doors are metaphorical.  God opens ways for us when we don't what to do, or where to go next.

 

But Vince knew that God unlocks literal doors.

 

With his child's faith, he reached out and asked for help.  In that moment he reminded me that no task is too big or to small for God.

 

For God hears even the smallest voice speaking to Him from an unfamiliar bed and unlocks his door.