Today I read Judges 13 where the parents of Sampson are visited by an angel, not once, but twice. His mother, whose name we are not told, had an angel appear to her and tell her that she would bear a son who was to be a Nazarite from his birth. He gave her a few more instructions and she did not realize that he was an angel. When she told her husband everything that had happened they prayed to have the man return to them. When the angel re-appeared he told them everything that he had told Sampson's mother the first time.
It is interesting to me how in the old times Heavenly Father seemed to announce what He was going to do a lot more often. I understand that Sampson was a very important person to the Israelites as was John the Baptist, another whose birth was heralded by angels. I guess maybe an angel came this time because of Sampson being a Nazarite? So that his parents could teach him what to do and what not to do.
I often wonder if angels still come down and visit people incognito like in this story. I know that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught in their time that some of the Saints had entertained angels unawares. I wonder if that is still the case in our day? I kind of doubt it honestly. But then again, who is to say what random encounters with strangers are not more than that? It reminds me of the movie the Family Man where the character who shows Nicholas Cage's character his "glimpse" appears as a man robbing a convenience store and later a store clerk who gives a girl too much change back in order to see if she has any integrity. Do we meet angels in disguise in order to see how we too will react? Do we have integrity when we think no one is watching? Because Heavenly Father is always watching us. We are never truly alone and we will be called to account for all of our actions, even those we might have taken but didn't in the case of someone we might have helped. You can never go wrong helping other people when they need it. At least that is how I feel. Until tomorrow.
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