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| Photo by M62 2007 |
After midweek evening service at church a few nights ago, I
had an unforeseen encounter with an invisible obstacle. As we returned to our
car in a neighboring parking lot, I tripped over a cement parking block that
was, at least from my perspective, invisible as I stepped down off the curb.
The street light illuminated the car from behind, casting a shadow over the
parking block, which had discolored to match the color of the pavement, giving
me no warning of its presence,
As my feet hit the block and propelled me forward and down,
I slammed both knees against the cement and my jaw and chin against the hood of
the car. My first thought was that all my teeth had been knocked out, and
almost immediately thereafter I was sure I had shattered both kneecaps.
Thankfully my husband was there to lift me to my feet and
go running for ice, and my pastor and church family surrounded me with love, concern,
assistance and prayer. I could feel the power of those prayers, and my fear was
soon transformed into relief and gratitude that I was not seriously injured and
would be left with only a few minor scrapes and bruises.
Like this incident, so many threats we might face are
unforeseen and invisible – a burglar lying in wait by our doorway, a giant
iceberg looming beneath the ocean in the path of a speeding ship, even a cancer
cell lurking in our blood stream. We may believe we are invincible because of
our high tech security system, the seaworthiness of the vessel, or our usually
excellent health.
We tend to forget that we are undeserving of these unearned
benefits, but that they are gifts from God (James
1:17), and that He could remove them at any time in accordance with His
perfect will (Job 1:21). Yet
for His children, who are saved by faith (Ephesians
2:8-9) in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven, God
works all things together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).
How many times have we complained about some minor
inconvenience, like being delayed at a traffic light, while being unaware that
He is actually protecting us from an accident further down the road, invisible
to our eyes yet clearly perceived by His perfect radar.
We worry about what is in our sights, as it distracts us
from what may be far worse. We may think we see clearly because what we are
looking at is well illuminated, as was the car in this incident, yet are we
vigilant (1 Peter 5:8) about
what is hidden in the shadows? Only God knows all things (Job 42:3; Psalm 139:6), past present and future,
while we are blissfully unaware of many dangers threatening our physical safety,
our emotional wellbeing, and our spiritual wholeness. Yet His unseen hand
protects us from these and more (Exodus
32:11; Deuteronomy 3:24; 4:34).
As I thought of the force of the impact and the unforgiving
nature of the surfaces my body fell against, I realized how miraculous it was
that I walked away with only a little swelling and a few scratches. Thank you,
Lord Jesus! Injury to my jaw could have silenced my teaching and singing ministries, and fracturing my knees could have ended our dance ministry. Yet God
in His grace and strength empowered me (2
Corinthians 12:9) to resume singing and dancing the morning after I
fell!
As I thanked and praised God for His protection, this
portion of Psalm 91 came to
mind:
Psalm
91:9 Because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For
he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a
stone.
Similar passages recur in the Gospels (Matthew 4:6; Luke 4:11), emphasizing the importance
of the angels, or ministering spirits, God sends to protect those who are or
will become His children (Hebrews 1:13-14).
In the Old Testament, angels sometimes appeared in the form of strong men (Genesis 18), and sometimes they were
invisible to men yet perceived by animals (Numbers
22:21-34). But often our senses may be blinded to the spiritual warfare
raging around us, with Satan and his demons seeking to devour us while angels
protect us from this onslaught (Ephesians
6:12).
All of Psalm 91
describes various dangers against which God is our shield and refuge. As I was
so dramatically reminded, His unseen angels can even hold us as we stumble,
lessening the blow that Satan would deal us. We can’t see the prayers of saints
who intercede for us, but we can feel their power (James 5:16) as they ascend to His throne (Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4) and
radiate blessings back to us.
Dangers hidden from our limited perception may be invisible,
but our God is invincible! His angels and the prayers of His saints may be
invisible to us, but that does not diminish their effectiveness. Praise the
Lord that He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent; that He loves us infinitely; and that no danger can threaten us unless He allows it for our
ultimate good and His glory!
© 2019 Laurie Collett
10 comments:
Dear Laurie,
I'm sorry to read about your kerbside accident but glad that you did not come off too badly.
The main point of your blog reminds me of an occasion which occurred while I was a teenager.
We were on a motoring holiday, with Dad driving us to our maternal grandparent's house in Italy. In order to save money, we usually have slept in the car rather than book an overnight stay at a hotel. As we parked for the night in total darkness, Dad felt a sudden impulse to put on the brakes.
It was the following morning we discovered that we were on top of a cliff edge, facing the drop!
Or on another occasion earlier in his life, during the War, when he was still living in Rome. He ran to catch a bus, but missed it by a split second, and watched it pull away. Soon afterwards, as he was walking the same route, he saw the bus bombed out and everyone on board killed.
Whether these two incidents had anything to do with my future birth and conversion I cannot say. But I do know that throughout his entire life he remained an agnostic after being cruelly treated at a nunnery where he spent a few months of his boyhood.
In turn, I was born eight years after the War ended and I was converted to Jesus Christ in December 1972, then aged 20.
You are absolutely right. God and his angelic hosts does have ways of keeping us from a disaster.
Wishing you a speedy recovery. God bless.
Correction: I was born seven years after the War ended, in 1952, not eight years. Sorry about that.
Dear Frank,
I can imagine how you felt when awakening perched on the edge of a cliff, or how your dad felt realizing he had escaped the bus explosion.
I once read that if a man could see everything going on in the spirit world around us, he would lose his mind. Although theologically inaccurate, I enjoyed the film City of Angels for its portrayal of invisible angels hovering over us.
Thanks as always for sharing your experience and insights. God bless,
Laurie
Thanks for clarifying! Once when I was asked to give my testimony in church, a word slip caused me to miss the date of my second birth by 10 years, so don't feel bad!
Hi Laurie,
how awful that accident must have been, but I am so glad that you did not have severe injuries. Yes, things could have been much worse and I even think these incidents cause us to be more open and aware to the dangers around us. I do believe that God is looking out for us and that delay and diversion can divert us from serious accidents and occurrences in our lives.I have had an experience where I was diverted onto another road and it saved me from being involved in a car accident.
God bless you, and I thank God that you are well.
One can only wonder how many times God has intervened to protect us that we never know about. Without him we would not even exist, much less survive even one moment. Praise him for his wonderful power. As Isaiah 44-46 tell us repeatedly, He is God, and beside him there is none else. Thanks for the reminder of his love for us.
Amen, Brenda! Praise God for His protection, for only He knows everything from every perspective. We become annoyed by inconveniences when in fact He is saving us from disasters.
God bless you,
Laurie
Thanks, Donald, for your encouraging comment! May we continually offer praise to our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer Who is the only Way to Heaven!
God bless,
Laurie
Hi Laurie, I'm glad that you're unhurt. I also glad and I praise God that when you were down on the ground, your first place you looked was towards God. But remember that the those stumbling blocks, either physical or spirit, are put out there for our edification. Don't missed out on the lesson.
Thanks, Keith! The devil tries to bring us down, but greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world.
God bless,
Laurie
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