So my house isn’t exactly Christmas ready.  We do have a tree.  A huge, beautiful, bare tree. It’s so big that we put the ‘topper’ on it while we had the ladder in the house so it’s barren but for that one article.  My tiny topper is woefully inadequate for the size of this tree, but it’s what we have, what we’ve always had.  It’s an angel; a small billowing robe clad flying angel.  

As I enjoyed our one sign of the season the other night, I found myself considering that angel.  

Think of the tasks we know angels to have accomplished.  The big news of Christ’s upcoming birth announced, Daniel’s delayed prayer answer due to angelic battles involving whole nations, Jesus being ministered to in the Garden as He despaired and sweat blood.  

While humans don’t become angels, I find there is much to discover about myself and the Lord as I see how angels function.  I find that one of the many underlying themes of Revelation becomes apparent through the many mentionings of angels throughout the book.  

We see angels ‘holding back the four winds’ in chapter 7 as another angel ‘seals’ the 144,000.  We see angels holding trumpets in chapters 8 and 9.  We see the ‘mighty angel’ of chapter 10.  The whole book is replete with angels to whom great and impactful things have been delegated.

I believe my favorite such delegate is found in Revelation 16:

The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.  Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

‘You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.’                                                                                                                     Revelation 16: 4-6

This angel was in charge of the waters!  Do you know how imperative water is to the life of everything on Earth!? This is a huge job to delegate!  You can almost hear the sadness in the angels words, “I know it is right and they deserve it.  But I’ve watched these waters for thousands of years and they are my baby.  Your will not mine.”

There is much that I do not understand about how God chooses to relate to His children.  Why is prayer so valuable and necessary?  If He already knows what’s going to happen, how is it I’m always choosing–and why can’t He just make me make better choices?  What’s the deal with fasting?  So many questions.  A profound one among them is this:

Why does God delegate such important things to people who mess up all the time?

Our God delegates.  He delegates hugely important things and blissfully minor ones, but He is very much in the business of giving others jobs to do.  And just in case you’re inclined to believe this is just for angels:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.                                                                                                                    Ephesians 2:10

There is work to be done and much of it is of enormous, eternal significance.  And we are the delegation He has marked to do it.  

This work that has been delegated to us is far more important than most of what we will spend our lives on today.  Being the gentleman, He will not push and shove His way into our schedules any more than He will into our hearts and lives.  

What matter of eternal importance has been pushed to the bottom of the to-do for too long? Or do we even believe there is one?  I don’t care who you are, if you are in Christ you have been delegated good works and we need for you to be about them.  He knew what He was doing when He set aside the task just for you and He surely stands by His decision.  As the angels who hold their eternal posts, let us show up today for the jobs we have been called to do.