There's a Knock At The Door

“But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.” (Ac 12:16 AV)

And it was a good thing he did!  Every time I read this passage I chuckle.  The brothers and sisters spent the night in prayer for Peter and there he stood, waiting to gain entrance.  Just a few moments ago, he was in prison.  Now, he stands without, knocking to gain admission.  The answer to their prayers was just outside waiting to be let in and they had a hard time believing it.  So, he kept knocking.  And knocking.  And knocking.  I am so glad he kept knocking!  Dear old Rhoda was the one who opened at first.  She couldn’t believe her eyes.  Instead of welcoming Peter into the meeting, she leaves him standing outside and runs in to tell everyone.  They don’t believe her.  They go back to praying prayers that have already been answered.  They weep.  They cry out.  They plead with God.  Yet all along the answer to their prayer is staring them in the face.  But they cannot see it.  Why?  Faith, or lack thereof, has blinded their eyes to the hand of God.  They cannot see it because they do not believe it.

There is a familiar joke that I have used and also heard afresh the other day.  A horrible storm arose and a warning went out to evacuate the area.  One dear saint felt she needed to stay in her home.  The floodwaters came and rose quickly.  As she contemplated retreating to her second floor, there was a bullhorn blast from the floodwaters just outside her home.  The rescue had come in a Humvee and begged her to retreat with them to safety.  She told them, “I have prayed to the LORD and am waiting for Him to save me.”  They left.  She escaped to the second floor but the water continued to rise.  From the bedroom window, she heard another cry.  This time, it was from a boat.  The offer was still the same.  Escape with them to safety for the waters are still coming.  Her response was still the same.  The LORD was going to save her.  Now entering the second floor, she escaped to her roof.  Prayer again rang out.  She begged the LORD to save her from drowning.  Along came a helicopter and the instruction sounded familiar.  “Climb aboard before you and your house are swept away!”  Her response was repeated for the third time.  She awaited the hand of the LORD to be her rescue.  Then it happened.  Away she was swept by the floodwaters and perished.  As she stood before the LORD, confused and dazed, she asked the LORD why it was He never rescued her.  She had bragged on Him and wanted to testify of His greatness.  To which the LORD replied, “Why do you think the truck, boat, and helicopter were for?”

James puts it this way. “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” (Jas 1:6 AV)  Faith must accompany prayer.  If not, the LORD will not answer.  If not, when He does answer, we won’t see it.  Again, I chuckle when I consider the silly picture that must have been as Peter knocked outside and the people were debating the reality of the knock.  I wonder what they were thinking that noise might be.  There they sat, in the throws of prayer, wishing someone would shoo away that annoying person at the gate so they could get down to some serious spiritual warfare!  What a sight.  But I wonder how many times we do the same.  I wonder how many times we miss the hand of God because we simply do not believe He is capable or willing to answer.  I wonder how many knocks at the door we misinterpret and something other than they are.  God’s wonderful hand of answered prayer.  So, next time we hear a knocking, maybe we ought to look into it and see if the LORD is answering our prayers.  Perhaps He already has and we cannot, or will not, see it.