In this verse, Elijah had just fled from Jezebel and her death threats into the desert. There in his fear and exhaustion, he prayed for the Lord to take his life. When suddenly a message carrier for the Lord appeared…not with some great vision or even an explanation of this predicament Elijah found himself in. Rather, the angel simply told him to eat, drink, and then sleep. Over the course of my 36 year Nursing career I’ve seen it happen way too many times…a patient is either critically ill or dying, but it’s the spouse’s or caregiver’s health that deteriorates. When we’re in crisis, we forget to do the ordinary things. We forget to get adequate nutrition…we don’t think to drink water…we don’t get enough rest. And the result is a caregiver with downward spiraling health. Care for the caregiver has become a focus for the Health Care Community, and something I advocated for wherever I worked. So if you find yourself a caregiver, please remember to treat yourself kindly, take time for yourself, and do the ordinary things. For you’ll be of no help to your loved one if you’re in the hospital.
Tag: Angel of the Lord
Matthew 1: 20-21 ” An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joeeph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.’ “
When the angel came to Mary she had questions, but in the end accepted the unfathomable. With Joseph though, it wasn’t that easy. The very human feelings of hurt and rejection were evident in his decision to divorce Mary quietly. And it certainly was within the Law to dismiss her from the bond of marriage with a Certificate of Divorce for her perceived conduct. But before this could happen, the angel visited Joseph and convinced him that what Mary had told him was true…she in fact had not been unfaithful. The Lord will sometimes give us a promise so wonderful and far-fetched that we can’t put our heads around it either…it’s at that point we will make the decision to either believe God or reject it based on our shallow emotions.
Numbers 22:23 ” When the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in His hand , she turned off the road into a field.”
Balaam was a Pagan Prophet, whose name meant devourer or glutton, who God chose to use. As he traveled on donkey-back, three times the Angel of the Lord stood in the middle of the road with a drawn sword, and three times his trusty little donkey turned away from the oncoming danger…and each time Balaam beat her for what he perceived was misbehavior. It wasn’t until she just lay down in the road that Balaam went berserk, beating her with his staff. At that moment, the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth and she spoke, reminding him that she had never behaved like this before…and then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he finally saw what she had been protecting him from all along. The Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “If she had not turned away, I would have certainly killed you by now, but I would have spared her.” It’s hilarious to think that the little donkey was far more righteous than Balaam in God’s eyes!
Safetypinlove 