For he [God] shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. — PSALM 91:11

I heard a pioneer Pentecostal missionary tell this experience. A neighboring tribe kidnapped a little girl from the tribe where he was a missionary. The people in her tribe knew that if they didn’t recover her before nightfall, they would never see her again.

So the missionary and a native interpreter made their way through the jungle to the kidnappers’ village. They took trinkets and bargained with the chief for the child’s return, but night overtook them. Because they couldn’t travel at night in the jungle, they were forced to stay at the kidnappers’ village. Sleeping on the floor of a thatched hut, they were awakened by the sound of drums. The interpreter said that the drums meant they were to be killed: The chief had decided to kill them and keep both the trinkets and the girl. Then they heard the hostile natives coming for them.

The missionary and the interpreter knelt down, prayed, and committed themselves to God. Then the missionary said, “Let’s not wait for them. Let’s go out. I’ll go first.”

He stepped outside with his eyes shut and waited for what seemed to be an eternity. One slash of their knives could cut off his head. But instead he heard moaning and groaning. He looked, and every native was on his face on the ground.

“They are calling you ‘god,’” the interpreter said. “They say that when you stepped outside, two giants in white stepped out with you, holding great swords in either hand.”

Confession: God has given His angels charge over me to protect me in all my ways.