Did you know you may have already been an angel of the Lord and didn’t know it? I don’t mean an angel like God sent to Isaiah or Daniel or Mary – a mighty spiritual being with wings and the glory of the Lord shining about them.

I mean an angel like the Lord sent to my friend, Scott, when he landed in the hospital with COVID-19 in Michigan.

You see, somehow, Scott had caught the coronavirus and had become so dangerously sick that he was hospitalized and placed in the isolation unit. For their own safety, neither family nor friends could be with him. Scott was alone and very weak. He knew he was in danger. His breathing was labored. Would he eventually need a ventilator? Would he be able to recover?

And that’s when the Lord sent His angel. Not one with wings and glory shining but with flesh and bone and plenty of disinfectant. The Lord sent Scott a cleaner. A humble human being with a bucket, but an angel of the Lord, nonetheless.

On the second day of Scott’s isolation at the hospital, a cleaner came into his room. As the cleaner did his work, wiping down the knobs, emptying the trash can and moping the floor, he spoke words of blessing and encouragement and hope to Scott. “God is with you. God is blessing you and helping you to heal.” He was praying for Scott, that the Lord would help him get stronger every hour of every day. The next day, the cleaner returned and followed the same routine both for cleaning the room and for delivering a message of encouragement and hope.

After that second visit, Scott did not see the cleaner again.

This all happened several weeks ago, but Scott still gets emotional telling the story. By God’s grace, he recovered from COVID-19 and was released from the hospital. He is thankful to God, both for restoring his health but also for sending his angel.

Why call the humble cleaner an “angel”? Because the word “angel” literally means “messenger”, that is, someone sent with a message. That’s what angels do.

You can be an angel of the Lord, too. Think of yourself as a humble little delivery boy or delivery girl. “I have a message for you.”

Wherever you go, practice social distancing but also practice this: look around to see who God has placed nearby. Ask yourself, “Who needs a blessing? Who needs to know God is for them not against them? Who needs encouragement, hope, or a smile today?” You can be an angel, just like the cleaner was.

Likewise, as you start your day with prayer, announce to the Lord that you are once again available for delivering His messages. Invite Him to bring to mind family, friends, neighbors or acquaintances who need a message of encouragement. Invite Him to bring across your path those who need a message from Him.

That’s what angels do. We get sent to deliver messages to people who need them.

Have your ever been an angel? Do you want to be one today?