Angels Minister To Us

The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
–Job 38:7

To me, the most inspiring missionary story is the story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and three other men who were killed in January 1956 as they attempted to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Aucas in Ecuador. The story of these missionaries’ death is even more remarkable when you know that after their death, their widows and other family members went back to that brutal tribe to witness to them and eventually led them to faith in Christ.

This story is so well known that it appeared on cover of “Life” magazine in 1956. There were endless books and movies about the courage of these five missionaries who gave their lives for the gospel. When Nate Saint died, his son Steve was very young. Now Steve is an adult, and he has been fascinated to learn more and more about the events that surrounded his dad’s death.

Forty years after his dad’s death, Steve Saint decided to go back to Ecuador to visit with the natives who had killed his father. He wanted to learn about what happened on that day. When he arrived in the village, he sat down with the very men who had murdered his father, men who had now come to know Christ as Savior. The man who had speared his father to death told of the tremendous courage his father exhibited while going through such a painful death.

But the natives told Steve Saint something else that happened the day those missionaries died: “Dawa, one of the three women . . . told me that after the killing she saw cowodi above the trees, singing. She didn’t know what this kind of music was until she later heard records of Aunt Rachel’s and became familiar with the sound of a choir. Mincaye and Kimo confirmed that they heard the singing and saw what Dawa seems to describe as angels along the ridge above Palm Beach. Dyuwi verified hearing the strange music, though he describes what he saw more like lights, moving around and shining, a sky full of jungle beetles similar to fireflies with a light that is brighter and doesn’t blink. Apparently all the participants saw this bright multitude in the sky and felt they should be scared, because they knew it was something supernatural.”

In that inevitable hour of your death, who will be there to comfort and to encourage you? The Bible says if you are a Christian, you need not fear death because God will send His angels to comfort you and to usher you into His presence. No matter what circumstances you may be going through today, you can take comfort in this: God sends His angels to minster to you.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “The Angels And You” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2018.

Steve Saint, “Did They Have To Die?”, Christianity Today, September 16, 1996.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.