Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Psalms 91:11-12

On January 30, 1835, President Andrew Jackson was leaving Congress when Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, came up to him and, at point blank range, pulled the trigger of his pistol. The gun misfired. When Jackson began to beat him with his cane, Lawrence pulled a second pistol and fired. That weapon also misfired, and the president was unscathed.

On October 14, 1912, presidential candidate Teddy Roosevelt was preparing to give a campaign speech in Milwaukee. That was when saloon-owner John Schrank came up and fired his .32 caliber pistol at Roosevelt's heart. Schrank's gun went off, but Roosevelt, bleeding, kept going. His life had been spared when the bullet had hit Roosevelt's glass case and the folded manuscript of the speech he was going to make.

On April 13, 2013, there was a shootout outside a Philadelphia grocery store. When the shooting began, the store's employee Bienvenido Reynoso fell to the floor. Only when the shooting stopped and he got to his feet did someone point out there was a bullet hole in his shirt. It's true; Mr. Reynoso had been hit by a stray bullet.

Well, that's not exactly right. Mr. Reynoso's life was spared because his belt buckle had been hit and absorbed the force of the stray projectile.

This is just this devotion's roundabout way of saying the Lord still does send His holy angels to look after and keep you. And, as near as I can tell, they do a pretty good job of it.

How good a job they do, I can't say. You can't say either. Nobody can say because while we do know Jesus has saved us from sin, the devil and death, we can never get a grasp on how many times the Lord's angels have intervened, saved and safeguarded us.

The truth is that while I never see the angel's handiwork I do know there is a great big list of illnesses I've never contracted and even more accidents that haven't knocked me down, broken my bones, or killed me. I've never been mugged, never accosted, and never been beaten up.

Of course, you might not feel so protected. Maybe you feel you have had more than your fair share of illnesses, accidents and injuries. Maybe you have a loved one who struggles physically, mentally or spiritually. Maybe so much has gone wrong in your life that you want to know just where are my guardian angels? Maybe you're debating if you can trade them in on newer, more-efficient models?

If that's where you're coming from, I can only say this: the Lord, who loves you enough to sacrifice His Son to save you, is not going to reverse His position and treat You like an old sock. His love is real; it is ongoing, and it is working right now.

Unseen and unfelt, it is there.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, for Your love and Your angels I give thanks. May I, even in the worst of times, give thanks for all You have done. In Your Son's Name I give thanks. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: 1 Samuel 1-3    Luke 17:20-37

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