Recently I had a strange almost accident and my help and safety cannot be explained by good fortune or anything else I can come up with. When I think back at what happened all I can say is there had to be divine or angelic involvement or I would be in the hospital or six feet under rather than writing this devotion. Before I tell you what happened I want to mention angelic involvement from several examples in the scriptures. It seems like angels or the Lord show up in some really difficult circumstances. First, I think of Jacob. He had run for his life from his brother Esau and had been in exile for twenty years. He was finally coming home to face the music when an angel or the Lord Himself showed up.
Gen.32:24,25 – And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
Then there was the apostles who had been arrested for the second time by the same men responsible for the Lord’s death. Their only way of escape, angelic help.
Acts 5:18-20 – And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.
Then of course there was Jesus agonizing in prayer to the point of shedding blood when an angel came and ministered to Him
Lk.22:43,44 – And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
So what happened to me that demanded some sort of intervention? Mine wasn’t so glamorous as the Biblical examples, it happened as a result of a clumsy mistake I made while on my vacation. I got up early one morning a little groggy trying to find my way to the kitchen. I reached for the wall to steady myself and there was no wall there, only a staircase blocked by a metal dog kennel. You guessed it, over the kennel I went backwards, somersaulting backwards down the wooden stairs (eight stairs to be exact) until I found myself on the landing with the dog kennel. I’m still scratching my head because it would be impossible for that to happen and not be hurt. Concussion, broken arm or leg, some broken or messed up vertebrae, or maybe a collar bone fracture, or death, certainly should have been the outcome. I would rather not do something so dramatic (or stupid) to have an angelic encounter but I am glad somebody had my back (literally). Not only was I not hurt but my formally aching back was no longer aching and I felt a strange supernatural touch upon my life. All I can say is there was someone else tumbling down the stairs with me.
