F. B. Meyer: The One Key He Would Not Hand Over
F. B. Meyer knelt in a quiet English house with a ring of keys in his hand. He had already given God his pulpit and his good name. One small key was still closed inside his fist, and he could feel the Lord waiting at the end of the hall.
Surrender Means Handing Over Every Key
Meyer pictured his life as a house full of rooms. He walked through it in his mind and gave the Lord one room at a time. Then he reached a door he had never opened for anyone. He kept that key back, and he said the Lord laid the whole ring in his hand and turned to leave.
Partial surrender is a strange thing. It looks generous from the outside and feels hollow on the inside. Romans 12:1 asks us to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Present, not lend.
The Room at the End of the Hall
Most of us have already handed God the rooms people can see from the street. Church attendance. Kind words in public. The room He keeps waiting beside is the small one nobody visits. It might be a habit you made peace with years ago. It might be a person you have quietly decided you will never forgive. God knows what is in that room. He walked to the door anyway.
Pray to Be Made Willing
Meyer called after the Lord and held that last key out on the tip of his little finger. He prayed that he was not willing, but he was willing to be made willing. That prayer changed him. Out of it came a ministry to men leaving the county jail in Leicester, men Meyer put to work with handcarts and window-cleaning kits so they could eat honestly.
If you cannot surrender that room today, tell God the truth and ask Him to make you willing. He has never turned that prayer down.
And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day.