Psalm 91:11 “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”
In 1858, John and Mary Ann Paton sailed for the cannibal island of Tanna. One fearful day, they were chased home by the tribe they were trying to reach out to. They shut the door, dropped to their knees, and cried out to God for protection. Expecting their house to be stormed at any time, they continued praying through the long day night as they heard the chants of the cannibals outside. But the attack never came. A few months later, the tribal chief converted to Christ. He immediately wanted to talk about that memorable night, and he asked Paton: “Who were all those men with you?” Paton insisted it was just his family there that night. The chief got angry and argued back: “There were hundreds of tall men in shining garments with drawn swords circling about your house, so we could not attack you.”
Angels are not fairies. Fairies are the stuff of children’s stories, but angels are very real. I have no doubt angels watched over me during the war. One day we got through a stretch of road in which there were four ambushes and forty people killed. Some angelic visitations are very obvious, as with the above. In the Bible, where angels appeared, it usually similarly caused great fear in the person they appeared to, such was their shining countenance. Often they would say: “Do not be afraid!” At other times we might not even know that an angel is amongst us, as Hebrews 13:2 says: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”
There’s no need to become obsessed with angels, but neither should we discount them. There is certainly a whole lot more going on than meets the eye…
Lord, teach me to recognize the ‘super’ in the midst of the ‘natural’. Amen!
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