What would you say if an angel appeared to you?
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and commissioned him to lead the army against the Midianites, Gideon immediately peppered the angel with questions:
- If God is with us, why is He not protecting us from our enemies?
- If God could deliver our ancestors from Egyptian slavery, why can’t He deliver us from the Midianites?
- Why would God pick me to lead the army? I am the youngest kid, in the smallest clan of the smallest tribe of Israel.
Gideon just couldn’t figure out why God had chosen him. But because he talked back to the angel and asked questions, his confidence increased.
Talking to angels
In this episode, I also discuss how Zachariah, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene talked back to the angels that appeared to them and what we can learn from their experiences.
In each of these cases, the person opened their heart and put their honest thoughts on the table for discussion. This can be a lesson for us.
Talking to your angels
When God talks to you, don’t try to hide anything from Him. I know from experience, that never works. Be honest. If you have doubts or fears, or don’t think you’re worthy, tell God right up front.
God wouldn’t be talking to you if He didn’t have something wonderful in store for you. Ask questions until you are confident in what the message is.
God is talking to you right now. You are more likely to hear His voice when you are quiet and not preoccupied with your own little world. Take some time to be still and listen. Ask God each day what He wants you to do.
And don’t be surprised when you hear His voice. Every time you hear God talking to you, it is an angel.
Thanks for listening. Please share this with a friend.
Blessings,
James
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Bible references in this episode:
Hebrews 13:2 KJV
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Judges 6:11-23 ESV
11 Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
12And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16 And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.
18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them.
20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so.
21 Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.
22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.”
23 But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”
Exodus 4:1, 10, 13 ESV
1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”
10 But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”
13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”
Luke 1:13, 18-20 ESV
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
Luke 1:30, 31, 34, 35 ESV
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
John 20:11-13 ESV
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
