Vacation Brakes

 

 

     Hazel Jackson believes in angels.

     She and her husband were returning from a vacation in Death Valley.  They had just reached a top of a mountain when her husband discovered that they had no brakes.  Their hearts seemed to stop.

     They were driving a heavy car and pulling a travel trailer, and already they were gaining speed down the mountain.  On one side was an abrupt drop lined with huge boulders all the way to the bottom.  On the other side it was straight up.  No brakes.  Accelerating speed.  Death stalking them on either side.  All they could do was pray.

     Down, down the mountain, faster, and faster they went, careening, it seemed, toward certain death.  But suddenly, for no visible reason, the car skidded to a stop!  Her husband dashed out of the car and blocked the wheels with large rocks. And there on the mountain they thanked God for sparing their lives, and they marveled at how he had done it.

     But they still had a problem—how to get down the mountain with no brakes.  Just then a service car from the station seven miles down in the valley pulled up along side.  The driver said he had received a call that someone on the mountain was in trouble.  They told him they certainly were in trouble, but they had made no call.  There was no phone anywhere around.

     They waited while the driver checked the entire mountain, trying to discover who had called for help.  He found no one on the entire mountain and returned to assist the Jacksons.

     Who made that phone call?  Who stopped the car in its wild ride?  Do we have to see an angel to know that one is around?

     “If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the Lord, who is my refuge—then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.  For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”  Psalms 91:9-12,

     But who are the angels?  Are they the spirits of men and women who have died, as some believe?  No.  Angels were present when this world was created.  And angels were assigned to guard the gate of the Garden of Eden as soon as Adam and Eve had sinned and been evicted from their garden home.  How could they be the spirits of those who had died when no one had died yet?

     It was David who said, What is man, that thou art mindful of him?  And the son of man, that thou visitest him?  For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”  Psalms 8:4, 5.

     A Little lower than the angels.  Evidently angels and men are separate and distinct.  Created to inhabit heaven, they are a little higher order than man.

     But angels, ever since man sinned and direct communication with the Creator was broken, have been given a very special assignment.  “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”  Hebrews 1:14

     Angels are commissioned to help and protect us.  And Jesus indicated that an angel, a special angel, is assigned to each individual. For he said, “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven   always see the face of my Father in heaven.”  Matthew 18:10.

     Are angels simply doing their duty? Or are they genuinely interested in us?  Evidently they are, for Jesus said, “There is… rejoicing  over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:7     

M.L.Lloyd