“For He will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Psalm 91:11-12 (RSV)
If we receive a gift from someone, we show our gratitude by opening it and using what we were given. Scripture teaches us that God has given us angels to guard and protect us. Since angels are God’s gift to us, we should show our gratitude by using the gift He has given.
I believe we can ask angels to give our doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians and anyone we hire, the guidance, skill and wisdom to solve problems and make good decisions.
I have told this story before, but I’ll never forget the time I called a plumbing company that I never used before. They dispatched a plumber to check a leaking pipe in my basement. I specifically prayed for God to send an angel along with that plumber, to give him the skill and wisdom needed to solve the problem with honesty and of course, at a reasonable cost.
The doorbell rang, and a young man was standing at my front door in a work uniform, wearing a name tag that read “Gabriel.” I thought, Really? Of all the plumbers that work for the company, they sent one that day who wore the name, Gabriel!?
Not a coincidence.
I took that as the first answer to my prayer. He then efficiently solved my leak problem, which is still good six years later, and he did it at a very low cost, which was the second answer to my prayer. I assume that Gabriel the plumber, was a human man, not an angel, but I am confident he was certainly guided by one. When I called to request Gabriel for a different plumbing issue after that, I was told that he moved out of state.
There was a story on the news a few years ago which is another example of angelic intervention. An Ohio man was approached by police with an arrest warrant, and with his nine month old son sitting in his car seat, the man decided to bolt, and took off at a speed of 100 mph down the highway, causing a police chase.
The back door of the van was never securely shut, so the door swung open and the baby was thrown from the van while strapped to his car seat. The baby bounced several times on the grassy side of the highway, but since it was dark, no one saw where he landed after being thrown from the van.
The man was apprehended, and about an hour later, the baby was found on the side of the road, still strapped to his car seat. He was very cold but without any injury. No doubt that baby was protected by angels, who kept him unharmed. Even the news reporters called it miraculous.
Another memory comes to mind regarding angels. As a young child, my mother told me that I used to talk about my friend, Maren. I vaguely remember it, since I was four years old, and my mother said there was no one named Maren that she knew of. So she inquired of my preschool teacher and Sunday school teacher, but found no one named Maren in any of my classes.
Years later, as an adult, I wondered about it and prayed one day, asking God to let me know if ‘Maren’ could possibly be the name of my guardian angel. The next day, I got in my car and was pulling out of the apartment complex, when a car cut sharply in front of me. As I braked, my eyes went straight to the license plate which read, ‘MAREN’. I took that as an answer to my question.
There is no limit to how angels can interact with human beings, even occasionally appearing as a human person. Scripture says we may meet a stranger who is an actual angel, in disguise, without knowing it.
(Hebrews 13:2)
Their job is to protect and lead us all closer to God. If we stop to think about ways that God’s goodness and mercy was with us in times past, an angel was probably involved. Angels must get tired of hearing people refer to their work as “luck” since they work nonstop to guard us in all our ways.
We thank God for the gift of the invisible realm of angels who constantly surround us, and if we take a moment to meditate on them, it will strengthen our faith for the problems or struggles that we are currently facing.
Lord, we praise you for the many times your heavenly angels act as our protectors, to guide and care for us, even when we were unaware of it. Amen
