When Moses came down the mountain, carrying the tablets with the ten commandments, his face shone from the reflection of God's presence. To prevent frightening the people, he put a veil over his face. In the third chapter of II Corinthians, Paul adds that this same veil would prevent the people from seeing Moses' face lose its radiance. This is an analogy for people's inability to realize the truth of the scriptures; the veil keeps people from understanding the references to Christ in the Word of God. When a person becomes a believer, Christ removes the veil, giving eternal life and the ability to gaze at the nature of God with an unveiled mind. And, by getting glimpses of the nature of God, we become more like Him, reflecting His glory in our countenances. In Matthew, chapter five, Jesus said, "You are the light of the world... let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise you Father in heaven." (NIV, vss. 14,16)
Which brings me to my story about light. Several years ago I lived in a big house on a corner city lot. The house had a wraparound porch on two sides, and another porch in back. All the entrances were visible from the street. Even though no one else in the neighborhood did so, I always kept the outside lights on during the night. I'm not scared of the dark, nor was I especially afraid of crime in that sleepy little Southern town; but, I liked the idea of having the lights on. Should anybody decide to break in, they would be visible to traffic going by. One Friday night... well, actually early Saturday morning... there was a knock at my front door. I looked out my bedroom window and saw a car stalled at the crossroads. The inside of the car was visible from the streetlight above; and I could see that the car was empty. Apparently, the knock on the door was the person whose care had stalled...
Okay. Decisions, decisions. What do I do? I am alone in this big old house, and it's 3 o'clock in the morning. Immediately after expressing my hesitation to God, He gave me the following verse: "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13:2 NIV). Confident of my safety, I went to the front door. Standing there was a young mother, holding a baby girl who looked to be about a year old. The young mother introduced herself , and asked if she could use my phone. She had come to my door " because the porch lights were on, and it looked so friendly".
I invited her inside. We sat in the den at the back of the house, and she tried in vain to get someone to help her with her car. The baby got fussy. I took her, held her, went to the kitchen to get her some apple juice for her bottle, talked to her while her mother made phone calls. The young mother kept trying to get help... to no avail. Finally, in tears she blurted out the fact that her young husband had beaten her and that she was trying to get away from him. Her mother lived in the next state - a drive of a few hours. She was scared; if he spotted the stalled car, he would know that she wasn't far away. She poured out her story to me. It broke my heart to realize that this young girl was the same age as my daughter, but her life had taken a bad turn. And then another. As we talked, I knew that I was meant to help this girl and her baby."This little light of mine.... I'm gonna' let it shine.... This little light of mine... I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine..."
I made a phone call. Arrangements were made. The car was taken care of, as were these two precious souls. As they were about to leave, I realized that I hadn't asked her the baby's name. When I asked, her reply was, "Oh, her name is Angel." I had entertained an angel unawares.
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