I’m not exactly sure how to title this devotional, actually. A more appropriate title would be, “Missing Car Keys”. But with all of the techy updates now appearing on new cars, it would seem that the car key may soon be a thing of the past!

It certainly is at our house. Our new-fangled vehicle doesn’t require a key at all; rather, it requires — the cell phone! And it is because of this concept that panic quickly set in the moment we discovered that the all important black rectangle was … gone!

Now it might not have been so bad if we had been in town; but we weren’t. We were 1000 km from home. Even then, it might not have been as bad if we were at our campground. Again, we weren’t. We were out and about, checking out a beautiful river walkway in Pennsylvania. And so it was that when my wife slapped her pocket — the very one she always kept the phone in — and it came up…empty…our heart sank all the way down to the ground. Without that phone, we were … STUCK! Hey! We couldn’t even call for help!

My wife is generally pretty calm in these situations, and she made light of it. “I probably forget it in the car,” she stated. “I’ve been doing that a lot lately! And the car won’t self-lock when the phone is inside, so we should be okay!”

She sounded so positive that I jumped on the bandwagon with her, and we continued down the riverbank for a few hundred metres before my wife suggested we go back. If the phone was actually in the car, she reasoned, that meant that the car was unlocked and driveable! And we turned around and beelined back to the car.

Imagine our distress to find the car … locked! Oh no! That meant the phone was not inside! That also meant that barring a miracle, we were literally … stuck!

The urge to panic again set in, but my wife, again the calm one, suggested we pray. We did, then and there. The “Amen” was barely out of our mouths when she reminded me that we had prayed, and therefore, we had to surrender the problem: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NIV)! Wait. That meant that I couldn’t carry the problem! But …

Yup, a part of me seemed to actually want to carry that problem. I decided to follow her advice, however, and I gave it … back … to God.

We hurried forward then, trying to exactly retrace our former steps. It shouldn’t have been that hard. It had only been about 20 minutes since we set out! Maybe it was the sense of panic, but neither of us could remember our exact route. We split up then. I followed the path closest to the river, and she followed the higher path along the dyke.

Nothing …

Determined to keep surrendering the problem to God, we both made the decision to not think about the possibility that someone had stolen the phone. But as we neared the point where the missing phone had been discovered, I could feel my hope fading.

Then we were there, just about 5 metres from where she noticed the missing phone, and neither of us could remember the exact path we had taken. We remembered climbing up on the dyke at that point, but did we follow the path at the top of the dyke? Or did we cross to the other side? Both of us were sure we’d stayed on the dyke, and we turned to the left to follow the foot path. Suddenly my wife turned back, retraced our steps to the decision point, and went up over the dyke to the other side. I held my breath as she reached down … and picked up the phone!

She was pretty sure that God had pushed her to go back…

And it was with worship and praise on our lips that we made our way back to the car; and we were singing haleluias when it opened on command and the motor came to life.

Two take-aways come to my mind as I contemplate this event. First of all, the whole concept of worry. My wife was so right. If we pray, there is absolutely no need to worry. Of course it is human to do so, but it serves nothing. In fact, if my wife hadn’t remained calm during this storm, she likely wouldn’t have heard the Holy Spirit prompting her to turn back to where the phone actually was! That’s what worry does! It keeps us from finding solutions! It all boils down to this: Do we truly believe that God will answer our prayers? Or are we simply jaded by the fact that some of our prayers have gone unanswered? And I might add, perhaps one of the reasons our prayers seem to have gone unanswered is likely that we don’t truly believe!

This incident also made me think about Heaven.

Contrary to what so many in the world believe, including — sadly — many Christians, Heaven isn’t open to everyone. In fact, it is locked up as tight as our car was when we returned looking for the phone.

Fortunately, there is a “key”: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6 NIV). And that key is available to everyone who seeks it: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7 NIV). God sent Jesus to open the doors of Heaven: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV).

We have to remember, however, that this “key” is only available to those who seek it. Yes, those who seek will find; but they have to be seeking. And fortunately for mankind, we have our Guide, the Holy Spirit, whose job it is to guide us into all truth: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13 NIV), and to point our steps in the Jesus’ direction.

So the next time you find yourself in dire straights, stop and pray. Then make that all important decision to surrender the problem and refuse to take it back!

And if you haven’t already surrendered your heart to Jesus, then understand that you don’t have the key to Heaven. Take a moment and make that all-important decision today! We invite you to click here.

God bless you!
Rob Chaffart
Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries