It was my observation while reading 2 Kings that angels are part of our story. Please look at 2 Kings 6:9-17, the angels in this story remind us that God’s servants are invisibly at work among us. Notice that Elisha prays his servant’s eyes be opened to see the rest of the story. “And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”  What a powerful moment — God is always at work among us, His angels are always close by, even when we do not see it.

There is more. In your browsing of Scripture, you may have noted several references to “The Angel of the Lord.” This angel appears to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:24-28), to Gideon (Judges 6:11-12), and Abraham (Genesis 22:15). The Angel of the Lord has a uniquely important place throughout the Old Testament. Although we will never know all there is to know about angels on this side of Heaven, these heavenly beings are active servants of God. They fight spiritual battles on our behalf, offering us comfort, and hold a special place in the story of Scripture.

I had the opportunity to hear Corrie ten Boom, a Christian writer talk about her experiences in a concentration camp. On February 28, 1944, a Dutch informant told the Nazis of the ten Booms’ activities (she was helping Jews get out of Germany), and the Gestapo raided their Dutch home. All her family members were incarcerated; Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were sent to the notorious Ravensbrück concentration camp for female prisoners located near Berlin. At this camp, all new prisoners were carefully searched for any type of contraband. Corrie had a Bible she wanted to keep, so she hid it under her dress.

She says, “It did bulge out obviously through my dress; but I prayed, ‘Lord, cause now Thine angels to surround me; and let them not be transparent today, for the guards must not see me.’ I felt perfectly at ease. Calmly I passed the guards. Everyone was checked, from the front, the sides, and the back. Not a bulge escaped the eyes of the guard. The woman just in front of me had hidden a woolen vest under her dress; it was taken from her. They let me pass, for they did not see me. Betsie, right behind me, was searched.”

A second group of guards searched them, but again Corrie was not seen. She wrote, “I knew they would not see me, for the angels were still surrounding me. I was not even surprised when they passed me by; but within me rose the jubilant cry, ‘O Lord, if Thou dost so answer prayer, I can face even Ravensbrück unafraid.’”

Living conditions were brutal, with meager rations and harsh discipline. Even so, Betsie and Corrie conducted secret prayer services in their barracks, using the smuggled Dutch Bible. The women voiced prayers and hymns in whispers to avoid the attention of the guards. The women were victorious in an incredibly lethal and brutal place…

Jesus tells us — “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30). Walking with the one true living God is like no other experience on this universe.

I choose Jesus.