Are There Guardian Angels?
One wintry night, I turned onto the ramp of an interstate. A gust whipped up new fallen snow and erased the road. My car slid as if in free fall toward the edge of the ramp. Miraculously, I felt my car lift and put back on the ramp where the car had traction to enter the freeway. I instantly thought, “An angel saved me! Praise God.â€
Perhaps one of God’s messengers has helped you. It’s difficult to know with certainty when an angel intervenes—they don’t draw attention to themselves. But that is the point—we’re not supposed to give them glory. With the angels, we praise God.
But does God assign us a guardian angel? The Bible affirms that angels watch over God’s people. In Matthew 18:1, the disciples asked who was greatest in the kingdom of God. Seeing their hearts, Jesus drew a child to him and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven†(v 2). Children had extremely low status, and the disciples were to humble themselves before God.
“Then, speaking to those gathered around, he said, ‘See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven’†(v 10).
Jesus’s disciples, his ‘little ones,’ were so esteemed by God that he sent powerful heavenly messengers to watch over them. Their angels always looked on the face of God!
But Jesus didn’t stop there. He warned those who intended to harm the ‘little ones.’ It was a shot across the bow. God defends and protects his own, and when needed, he sends powerful angels.
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,â€
and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake 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.
you will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent (Ps 91:9-13).
These passages should give us pause and inspire awe!
The Bible doesn’t specifically say that God assigns a guardian angel at birth, but it teaches something very wonderful indeed. Angels protect and guard those who turn and humble themselves before Jesus. The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly how they work, or how many are with us, or how often they show up. God knows these things. He is the One we worship. We praise our gracious, powerful God who provides for us in all ways, and sometimes send angels who look at the face of God. Imagine!
Except from Sharon’s book: Angels, Demons, and the Dead: Casting the Light of Scripture on Spirit Beings. It’s available on Amazon.
