It was one of those days where it seemed there were more
crazy people on the roads than usual: cars pulling out right in front of me,
crowding me off the street, the guy turning right from the left lane right in
front of me.
I was not amused.
Eventually I made my way to the freeway, and took a deep
breath. “This feels like an attack,” I realized.
So I prayed. I invited angels to protect me as I made my way
across town to my appointment.
And as soon as I prayed, I knew I was wrong: I didn’t need
to invite them to protect me; they already were protecting me. They were the
reason I hadn’t actually been hit by any of those crazies on the road. That
green Volkswagen had stopped so suddenly was because an angel was stopping it from
running into me.
So I thanked the angels for their effective service, and
invited them to continue. And I went after any assignment against me,
cancelling that. That felt better, and I encountered no more crazies that day.
And Father & I talked about this as we drove. I was
thankful for the protection of his servants – our servants – on the roads, but
if the angels are protecting me, why were there so many near misses if they
were on duty? Why not just keep things safe and sane, why not stop the green
Volkswagen five or six feet earlier so I didn’t jump out of my skin with that
near miss?
This is the part I’d like to share with you, see what you
think.
Angels are (essentially) employees of the Kingdom of God,
serving those who will inherit salvation, right? So their actions will be
consistent with the values of the Kingdom, yes?
It floated into my mind: “What is the currency of Heaven?
What is it that moves His hand?”
Faith. Faith is the currency of Heaven. It’s the prayer of
faith that changes things.
In fact, Romans goes so far as to declare, “without faith it
is impossible to please God.” [11:6] More, that’s how this whole adventure
began: “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” We
enter the Kingdom by faith and ever after, the Kingdom continue to work by
faith.
Then it hit me. The employees of the Kingdom of God won’t be
working in such a way as to bypass God’s values, in such a way as to invalidate
the currency of the Kingdom. That means that angels won’t be working in a way
that removes the requirement for faith, for my trusting God.
In fact, it’s more likely that they would choose their
actions in such a way as to increase the faith of those they minister to, to
encourage me to trust God more, in this case, rather than trusting my own
driving skills.
In fact, it appears that angels are aware of the level, the
maturity of our faith, and treat us accordingly. Their actions will be
different for a new believer than for one who has walked with God for several
decades, because it takes more to grow the faith of the seasoned saint, while
the babe in Christ is challenged by even the simplest things.
In some cases, God (perhaps through the ministry of angels)
provides for us, but his provision might show up at the last second. (“God is
never late, but he sure misses a lot of opportunities to be early!”)
Why? Because if the provision showed up early, we’d never
have to exercise faith. We’d stroll along comfortably, content that our
provision was in the bank, rather than trusting our Father.
Us trusting our Daddy. Yeah, that’s part of his goal for us.
Us being comfortable? Nah, that’s not a priority.
And God’s work in our lives, angels’ work in our lives, will
never work against the need for us to walk (or drive) in trust.
