“For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Psalm 91:11-12

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When I was a child, we went to a remote beach destination for several years in a row. It was a place with long, wide beaches, Gulf Stream waters, and a haven for collecting shells of all kinds. A treasured find was commonly called angel wings. The goal was always to find a pair that had not been separated and had not been damaged by the tumbling surf. That was nearly impossible to do, but we still collected them in all sizes.

I was reminded of these shells and of Psalm 91:11-12 this week when I was involved in an accident that I not only walked away from, so did everyone involved. Yes, sore and aching later and yes, with damages to our vehicles but we walked away. It was a quirky incident that involved a dog, a stopped car that pulled off from the accident, the ability to not hit the truck in front of me but being rear-ended and rocking between the two pick-up trucks. Afterwards, once the dust settled, I began to be so thankful. It could have been a bigger truck, I could have been trapped, I could have been a lot of things but now just a few short days later and I am a-okay.

The entirety of Psalm 91 is a litany of the promises that await those who love and trust the Lord. It is a comfort Psalm for many, but verses 11 and 12 are a promise that God has angels, messengers of God, whose duty it is to watch over the lives of His children. I am not talking television angels, or Christmas lawn decoration angels or even pretty angels that we see in religious paintings and sculptures. The Bible is clear that angels are so utterly amazing and awesome that if one sees an angel, the first inclination is to either faint or fall down on your knees. Yet, most of the time we may not even recognize angels (Heb. 13:2), but this verse says they are working to keep us and lift us in the time of need. The Psalm never promises that sickness, trouble, danger or hard times won’t come around; it simply promises our protection in these moments.

This accident was not the first time I recognized angels watching over me. I have acknowledged their work at other times when I was in potential danger, when I was coming out of anesthesia, and once when I woke up one morning. It is not that I have seen them, but I understood that they were present and their presence always brings calm in the middle of what I am going through which I believe is the message they are sent to deliver. So in my little mind, I can imagine that one may have been holding me short of hitting the driver in front of me, while another one was holding my body intact while it was being jostled around in my seat. And perhaps there was one behind me, making sure the impact was not as hard as it could have been. And therein lies a comforting thought…it was not time to go home to the Lord, and the Lord made sure that I was preserved to tell this story to you. You may consider me crazy, I don’t mind. What I do know is that the promise of Psalm 91:11-12 is true and I am so thankful for the work of angels and for the God above who dispatched His angels just in the time of my need.