Angels....

In Psalm 91, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, God tells us he will command his angels to watch over us.  Those are not just words.  That wasn't just an Old Testament phenomenon.  I have met his angels, and my life was changed because of my experiences.

We see angels often, although we may not recognize them as angels at the time.  I have had help from angels twice in my life, both occasions where I was in trouble and didn't know where the help would come from, and in both situations, I didn't know they were angels until later.  But angels they certainly were, and I feel blessed to have had the experience and know they were real, even if I didn't realize it at the time.

They looked like ordinary people.  They acted like human beings.  But they intervened at just the right moment with such precision I was left in no doubt of who, and what, they were.  In retrospect, the realization gave me a deeper understanding of God's ever present help in our times of need.  It is real.  It is functional.  It is now.

It is troubling to realize that sometimes angels come to help, and at other times they don't.  I don't have the answer as to why angels appear for some people, and in other desperate situations they are absent.  Do they misbehave?  Satan is a fallen angel.  Perhaps there are more who land short of the goal.  I don't have the viewpoint of eternity, and I don't think we are meant to understand everything that happens here in the temporal world, so I don't have the answer for that deeply disconcerting reality.

But I do know that without the intervention of angels, my life would be different today, because their presence in my time of need changed my entire interpretation of God.

When I was young, God was distant and removed.  I thought God's oversight was a general caring, like a teacher over a class.  The idea that he was watching over me, individually, was too mind boggling to comprehend.  How could he watch everyone, all the time, and not miss anything?  I am an unimportant cog in the world's wheel.  Why would I matter so much to him?

Then I met his angels, and realized he isn't distant at all.  He is here, watching everything, all the time.  He knows what we need before we even need it, and God's army of angels are serving him by doing as he directs, including helping me when I needed it the most.

God is personal.  He is loving and caring.  He watches us in our struggles, and sends help in our time of need.  Sometimes the help comes through a family member, often its a friend.  But sometimes, when you need it most, God will send an angel your way.

Meeting God's angels showed me his ever present compassion, and changed the relationship I have with him to a dynamic, interactive conversation.  I am grateful today for angels.