Thought for Today
Psalm 78:49 He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
Psalm 91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
Luke 24:23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.
Do you believe in angels? If so, do they wear white robes, have wings and haloes? Do they all sit on clouds in the sky and play harps? Are there various work groups or is there an organization chart for angels? Do you, or I, anyone or everyone have a guardian angel? And, just to go a bit medieval on you, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? While I’m asking all these questions, the questions from Eric Clapton’s song Tears In Heaven are echoing in my mind, “Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven?/Would it be the same if I saw you in heaven?/ Would you hold my hand if I saw you in heaven?/Would you help me stand if I saw you in heaven?”
The words angel and angels appear often in scripture, but we are never given a great deal of detail. There are guardian angels and destroying angels. There are archangels, e.g., “Jude 1:9 But when the archangel Michael . . .” Some angels are identified by name, Michael, Gabriel, etc. Interestingly, the ‘el’ suffix on those names is known as a theophoric, and comes from the common Semitic language name for god, El.
The psalmist asks in Psalm 8, “3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.” (NKJ) I deliberately chose the NKJ because the NRSV chose a different translation for the Greek word ἄγγελος (angelos), the word we transliterate into our English word angel. The Greek translators of the Hebrew text chose ἄγγελος (angelos) as their word for the Hebrew Malak.
My own thoughts on angels are centered around the basic meaning of both the Greek and Hebrew words. In each language, the respective word means messenger or envoy. Angels were understood to be the messengers of God, God’s envoys to humankind. I constantly remind myself of “Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
I believe we are all called to be God’s messengers, God’s envoys to each other. I also believe that all of us have encountered other of God’s messengers in our lives. People who have interfaced with us, bringing us God’s message when we needed to hear that message. I married one of God’s angels, and she has brought me God’s messages on many occasions.
I believe all of us have seen countless examples, especially during the recent pandemic. God’s envoys in time of crisis, doctors, nurses, healthcare providers, other first responders, taxi drivers taking the ill to hospitals, friends and neighbors helping out others. All of them, God’s angels.
One of the most heartwarming examples for me during that time and continuing to the present is the number of people volunteering to combat food and housing insecurity. People of all faiths, religions, churches . . . volunteering along with people of no faith or religion . . . bringing God’s message of love and grace, whether consciously and deliberately or not, to God’s children in need. All of them, God’s angels.
Each day, in everything we think, say and do, each of us has the opportunity, the privilege and duty to be one of God’s angels. Imagine our world if more of us were to seize that opportunity.
Stay safe, be someone’s angel today, trust God,
Pastor Ray