You probably have never recognized your guardian angels at work, but you regularly benefit from their protection.
Psalm 91:11–12
“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” (ESV)
I have said much in this series of articles on Psalm 91 about God’s ability to protect you through his direct control over everything large and small, but in these verses we see something different. We see God’s indirect protection for you through guardian angels.
Angelic protection is real and occurs regularly. You have benefited from it time and again though you are unaware of it except in the most unusual circumstances.
Therefore when you think about safety and protection for yourself and those you love, guardian angels should be part of your worldview, confidence, prayers, and faith.
One world, two realms
Fundamental to the biblical worldview is that our universe has two overlapping realms: the material and the spiritual, the visible and the invisible. Populating the invisible, spiritual realm are God, angels, and demons.
The key takeaway of Psalm 91:11–12 is that the spiritual realm interacts with the material realm, and it happens regularly.
For example, Job 1–2 narrates a detailed interaction between the two realms in which Satan is a principal actor.
On the other hand, we see holy angels at work in the Book of Revelation, which speaks 56 times of angels controlling events on earth. They pour out bowls and blow trumpets of judgment. They hold back or release the wind. They enable the movement of human armies. They convey messages to prophets and decree major shifts in world events. And much more. Clearly they and their decrees carry great authority.
Although God could do all these things without them, he created angels and apparently likes to use them to execute his plans just as he does humans.
Guardian angels
So it is no surprise they play a role in your protection. Does every person have a guardian angel? Psalm 91:11–12 supports that idea. In fact, these verses suggest multiple guardian angels assigned to you: “He will command his angels concerning you.”
Psalm 91 describes one example of how angels could protect you. “On their hands” guardian angels can “bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.” They could literally lift you up so that you pass over a stumbling stone. Or perhaps they cover the stone with their hands as you step on their hands. Whatever it is, they intervene with the physical world to protect you.
When an angel sprung Peter out of jail (see Acts 12), his intervention included poking Peter to wake him, causing the chains on Peter to fall off without touching them, telling Peter what to do, enabling himself and Peter to bypass guards unnoticed apparently by putting them to sleep, and causing a large, iron, city gate to open without touching it.
Even the Son of God believed in the role of angels in God’s protection for him. At his capture in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53)
Like Jesus, you can pray and trust God to use guardian angels to protect you in whatever threats your world presents.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)