Article September 1, 2013

An angel's touch

Originally published in the December 26, 1996 issue of The Christian Science Monitor

I have felt it. And you can too. But just what are angels, and how can we feel their presence?

Angels are not mystical, winged creatures. They are ideas that guide, guard, and comfort. In Biblical days, angels inspired, forewarned, and protected people, as when they heralded the birth of Christ Jesus, and afterward when an angel instructed Joseph to flee into Egypt with his family, to prevent Jesus from being killed by King Herod (see Matthew, chaps. 1-2; Luke, chap. 2).

Several hundred years earlier, a prophet named Elijah had twice heard critical angel messages as he fled for his life from Queen Jezebel. Despondent and suicidal, Elijah received from an angel guidance and the courage to proceed (see I Kings 19:1-8). Angels remind us that we are the children of a loving God, who exist to reflect His nature.

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