The Angel of God, His active presence, surrounds those who fear Him, to deliver them, like the three men in Daniel 3 were kept alive by angelic power in a raging fiery furnace. I was one day pondering how notable it had been that on many occasions the people who tried things which might ruin me, perhaps not even knowing that could be the outcome of the actions, were suddenly brought down by calamity, leaving me safe from harm. It was striking how it had been happening so much over the years. I had a Bible verse in mind which I thought must explain it, but it was all a bit new to me to be noticing such things and I longed for a bit of certainty of understanding as to whether the verse did apply. The verse said “The Angel of the LORD encompasses those who fear Him”. I did not know where in the Bible it came from. Probably a Psalm, I thought. I lay on my bed thinking about this. Suddenly in my head came words so clear they could have come from near me, but no, they were put into my head by something invisible. “Daniel 3.” I just knew it must be the Holy Spirit, although this had only ever once before happened to me, many years before. I realised it must be a Bible reference. In my living room, on a cabinet, I had a Bible. Someone gave it me years before as a study Bible with cross-references. I had rarely used it. I had other Bibles but this is the one I kept out, on top of my cabinet. I went to it and looked up Daniel chapter three. I started looking through the long chapter about men thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to bow to an image of a Babylonian emperor. I saw nothing until the end of the chapter where there was the word “Angel” and beside it a cross reference. I knew what would come next. I checked the reference. Yes, it was a cross reference to that Psalm which said, “The Angel of the LORD encompasses those who fear Him”. The words which were in my head. It was showing me that the Angel in Daniel 3 was like what had been protecting me, surrounding me because I feared the LORD. How remarkable, extraordinary, that there was this Spirit reading my very innermost thoughts, which I had not spoken out loud, then answering my unspoken question. And had known what was in the margin of my study Bible and that I would look at this particular Bible. It stunned me. What stunned me most, in a delightful way, was how this Spirit, I assumed the divine, heavenly Holy Spirit, had used this brilliant way to prove to me this was not my imagination playing tricks on me. This was real. Impossible that it was not real. And that this Spirit had power to know my thoughts and speak right into them in crystal clear English words, and with just two words tell me so much. What wisdom. The Spirit, as the scripture says, of the fear of the LORD.
