Do You See the Angels?

by Autumn Dickson

The beginning of Abraham’s story is a well-known one in our church. He was almost sacrificed on an altar because he believed in the one true God. The priests “laid violence” upon him, and then this happened.

Abraham 1:15 And as they lifted up their hands upon me, that they might offer me up and take away my life, behold, I lifted up my voice unto the Lord my God, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and he filled me with the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of his presence stood by me, and immediately unloosed my bands;

Abraham calls out to God, and he receives a vision of the Almighty. An angel stood by him and loosed his bands. Here’s my question.

How did this event play out for the priest? Did he see the angel or did he turn around and Abraham was free and running?

The scriptures later note that the priest was smitten, but that could mean anything. Did the angel smite him right there? Did he die later for something that seemed natural? The rest of the land was smitten by famine; this comes from the Lord, and yet, how many of the people saw the Lord’s hand in it?

And then, of course, this also happened.

Abraham 1:11 Now, this priest had offered upon this altar three virgins at one time, who were the daughters of Onitah, one of the royal descent directly from the loins of Ham. These virgins were offered up because of their virtue; they would not bow down to worship gods of wood or of stone, therefore they were killed upon this altar, and it was done after the manner of the Egyptians.

What did the priest see when he sacrificed these three women? I’m almost positive that he wouldn’t answer, “Divine intervention.”

What did the virgins see? Maybe nothing at first. Maybe there was no vision or angel to comfort them as they passed through to the other side, but they saw enough that they refused to bow down to idols. And then, after passing through to the other side, I’m sure they saw something wonderful.

When you look at your own life, what do you see? Do you see the angel? Do you see the loosed bands or are you still laying on the altar, convinced that you’re still tied down? Do you see the intervention of God? Do you see the Lord standing ready to welcome you to where you’re going?

Do you see the end from the beginning? Maybe not exactly, but do you see it?

I type my prayers. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it a million more times. Writing down my prayers has changed my life. In this specific context, I have realized that writing my prayers helps me see.

There have been times where I have seen the Lord’s hand as I’ve looked back. There have been times when I’ve written and asked for something very specific in my prayers only to find them answered with exactly what I asked. There have been times when I was subconsciously led to write something down, and I found the Lord intervening on my behalf according to what I wrote down.

But it goes beyond that. Writing my prayers has helped me see, to an extent, what the Lord has coming for me.

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