“Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.”
Revelation 12:7-8 (NAB)
God has a purpose for the legions of angels that He created. He assigned a specific job to each one. Besides being ministering spirits to people, like guardian angels, scripture tells us that angels are assigned to whole nations as well as to physical and spiritual geographical boundaries.
The Archangel, Michael, is the one who constantly wages war against the dragon, and fights the strongest powers of darkness all around us, which we never see. Michael’s name, given by God, and revealed to us is mentioned in both the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation. His name is interesting because his name is actually a question in Hebrew,
“Mi-cha-el?” translates to
“Who is like God?”
All angels worship God every day, 24/7. Worship to God is offered in various forms, through our sacrifice, through songs of praise, and through questions. When we receive a huge answer to prayer, we can be overwhelmed with gratitude, and respond saying, “Who is like you, Lord?” Questions can be phrases of praise and glorify God.
David was so amazed that God, the Creator of all, wants to have a relationship with us, his creation, that he praised God with a question, asking, “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, or human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4)
Besides praising God through questions, David wasn’t afraid to open up in honesty and share his frustrations, in the form of questions, as well, asking,
“Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1)
I think everyone feels like David at times, when our burden is too heavy to bear, and in desperation we ask as David asked,
“Who do I have in heaven, but you?” (Psalm 73:25)
Our questions are merely prayers of lament from the heart.
David, in his anguish, posed many questions to God, yet he was an anointed writer of numerous psalms, that are still read and sung today. With all his questions, he stayed close to the Lord, asking to be kept as the apple of His eye. (Psalm 17:8)
God welcomes all our questions. When Mary, as a virgin, was told that she would conceive our Savior, she first responded with a question, “How can this be?”
Even Jesus asked a question as He was dying on the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Not all our questions receive answers and some answers are given, but not fully understood in this lifetime, but in asking questions, they all had one thing in common. They submitted themselves to God in praise and worship.
David teaches us that it’s okay to be honest with God because all of our questions become our prayers, and prayer is communication with God.
If I’ve learned anything through trials, it’s that God wants us to keep communicating with Him, especially when we are heavily burdened.
Some of our questions are prayers of lament and some of our questions are praises with gratitude, but God welcomes both. Jesus told us that He stands at our door, knocking, which means He wants to be invited in, to have a more intimate part and involvement in every aspect of our lives. We can open the door and let Him in, with all of our honest questions, in gratitude and praise.
As I think of all God’s angels who serve Jesus, and still fight battles for us today, and about His archangel, Michael, who He appointed to one day put an end to the evil one, who deceives the whole world, all I can say is,
“Mi-cha-el”, or “Who is like God?”
It’s become my personal phrase of praise and greatest question,
Who is like God? The answer is “No one!”
Lord, we thank you for creating the angels and for the victory over all evil in the end. Help us to draw closer to you and submit our will to you, as we bring you our honest questions along with our gratitude and praise. Amen