“Let those who seek my life be put to shame and disgrace. Let those who plot evil against me be turned back and confounded. Make them like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them on. Make their way slippery and dark, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.”
Psalm 35:4-6 (NAB)
When I graduated from 8th grade, my great aunt gave me my first bible. It was white leather with a gold zipper, gold letters on the front, and the words of Jesus were all printed in red. I thanked her and put it on a bookshelf in my bedroom, where it remained unopened for six years. I never knew the powerful treasure of God’s word hidden inside that white leather. After pursuing my own path without God in my teenage years, I had a wake up call in a dream one night. I dreamed I was running to catch a train and finally jumped on board, but realized I was riding in a train of coffins. After waking up startled, I had a new hunger for God and a curiosity for truth, which later led me to repent and surrender my life to Christ. Years later, I discovered the treasure and power of scripture and began to pray as I read it. A day came when I prayed a scripture in the Psalms for the protection of that same great aunt who gave me my first bible. She and my mother, both elderly widows, had moved in together. They were living peacefully until the schizophrenic adult son of my great aunt started to regularly harass them for money. He was frequenting their house where they lived, far away from me in another state. After giving him meals and money out of their kindness, they finally told him they had no more money to give. The day they refused him entry and money, he became very angry and started kicking at their front door. My mother told me about it the next day and naturally I felt worried and helpless, living so far away from them. Of course if he returned again, they would call the police, but I had a bad feeling about him and didn’t want him to return again. I was unable to protect them, but God was able to. I lived far away but God was near them, so I brought my anxieties to God and started praying Psalm 35. I found my hope in the truth of what God promises to do to protect us, so my daily prayer was “Lord, please send your angel and drive him away like chaff in the wind, as your word says.” A short time afterward, we heard that he ended up in a nursing home with a double foot amputation, resulting from diabetes. I was shocked but relieved that my mother and great aunt were safe. Her son was still alive with the opportunity to repent and turn to Christ, as he lived out his days in that nursing home. God worked it all out to a fair and just solution. I have prayed this Psalm many times since then, and sometimes God helped me to be at peace with an enemy, and there was no need for an angel to drive them away. Whatever the situation, I know God will protect His people, sending angels as needed, because of His promises written in that white leather bible. What a mighty God we serve, who fulfills the promises of His own word, when we ask and believe Him for it.
Lord, we all face frightening times and uncertain predicaments in our lives, and we call upon your angels today, to drive any enemies away and keep each one of us safe, in Jesus’ name. Amen