“Have you seen a key as big as the door?”, a rhetorical question the Holy Spirit asked me, which later led me to journal a series of personal devotions about finding keys to unlock the hidden truths in the Bible.
Doors are generally used to ‘keep good things in and bad things out’. Doors keep you safe by shutting out external harm. But doors can also prevent you from seizing the opportunities that await you at the other end; your dreams, your breakthroughs and even your freedom. There are primarily two ways to go through a door – you can either break it down, or simply use a key.
Keys give us access to what’s protected behind the door which is not privileged to unauthorised people. Hence, keys are often symbolic of authority over what we own or where we want to go to. Jesus said in Matthew 16:19, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Nowadays, keys come in all shapes and sizes, so don’t limit your perspective to just the traditional keys made of metal. It could be your house keys, car keys, office access pass, annual theme park tickets, our passports and even our thumbprint or eye-print which are used as “keys” in today’s technologically-advanced world.
It’s easier to spot the door than the key. Although the key is small enough to fit right in your pocket, it has the power to unlock and disarm a huge door many times its size. Sometimes to understand what God’s saying, we should find those obscure (key) verses or narratives in the Bible, than focus on the obvious (door) miracles, signs and wonders which everyone is preaching or talking about. In other words, you shouldn’t skip those chapters on genealogy in your Bible Reading Plan. Your key to breakthrough could be hidden in there!
Proverbs 25:2 tells us that “God conceals the revelation of His word in the hiding place of His glory. But the honour of kings is revealed by how they thoroughly search out the deeper meaning of all that God says.” Sometimes God hides certain truths in the Scriptures to separate those who are contented with the superficial and those who earnestly desire for something more; to separate those who just want to know ABOUT the truth and those who long for THE Truth, Who’s a Person! It’s knowing the Truth, not about the truth, that will set you free!
Here are some ‘obscure’ keys to consider.
We’ve heard about Moses and his ‘burning bush’ experience, and how God spoke to him and called him to set His people free. The key was that Moses “turned aside” and when “God saw that he had turned aside”, then He spoke to him. If Moses had continued on in his journey, that divine encounter probably wouldn’t have happened (Exo 3:3-4).
In Mark 9:28-29, we now know that in spiritual warfare, we’ve to include prayer and fasting. But the key was that the disciples “took Jesus aside” and asked Him privately why they couldn’t cast out the demonic power in the boy. If they didn’t take Jesus aside, there probably wouldn’t be a verse 29 in this chapter which we all benefit from.
In Heb 3:7-15, this sentence was mentioned twice in the same chapter, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion…” We talked about not hardening our hearts towards the Lord or how to hear God’s voice. But the key in this passage is the word, ‘Today!’ When God speaks or whispers to you, respond immediately! Don’t wait till tomorrow or next week. That’s the key to having a tender heart before the Lord and to hear His voice.
We marvel at the story in Mark 4:35-40 where Jesus rebuked the waves and the storm by just speaking the Word, or how calm Jesus was, sleeping in the midst of the storm whereas the disciples were fearing for their lives, even questioning whether He was concerned about their safety. But the key is in verse 35 where Jesus said, “Let us cross over to the other side.” The last time when Jesus said to me “Let us…”, He kept His promise and fulfilled it. He’s not failed me yet! And He won’t fail you either, because He’s faithful (2 Tim 2:13) “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
In 1 Samuel 17, the enemy placed before the army of Israel a huge door of fear and intimidation called ‘Goliath’, to taunt them and shut them out. But God had a key to open and silence that obnoxious door… he’s called ‘David’.
The world judges you through a heavy door called ‘your ability’ which puts a burden on those who can’t measure up or fit in. But God has a key to open it, called ‘your availability’. Jesus said in 2 Cor 12:9 that, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” Our ability and strength are found in Him, not in ourselves. Your greatest ability is your availability.
Is there a door that you can’t open today? God has a key just for that! Go on an adventure with the Holy Spirit, find those precious keys hidden in His Word that’s just waiting to be discovered. This is when the obscure becomes the obvious.
