St. Michael and All Angels | Matthew 18:1-11 | God Wants to Protect You through His Angels

St. Michael and All Angels (Observed)

September 28, 2025

Matthew 18:1-11

 

As a child, I would prepare for bed, get my pajamas on, brush my teeth, and get snug under the covers, and then I would use this prayer I was taught,

 

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take

 

It’s a prayer I’m sure many of you have also prayed or taught your little ones to say. It’s a meaningful prayer, and because of its rhyme, it’s also very easy to remember.

 

Some believe this prayer was written by the English clergyman George Wheler and published around 1698. However, others think it was inspired by an earlier German version called “The Black Paternoster,” which simply means the “evening Our Father.” (Paternoster means “Our father” in Latin)

 

The Black Paternoster goes as such,

 

Mathew, Mark, Luke, John Bless the bed that I lie on; And blessed guardian angel keep Me safe from danger while I sleep.

 

However, some believe that even this version of the prayer might originate from a medieval Jewish prayer that went like this,

“In the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, may Michael be at my right hand; Gabriel at my left; Uriel before me; Raphael behind me and the Shekhinah of God be above my head.”

 

And just so you know, Shekhinah is Hebrew for the presence of God or His dwelling place.

 

But if all of this is true—that the prayer we know today as “Now I lay me down to sleep” has an unusual origin tracing back to this Jewish prayer—and it has really changed a lot. 

 

Requests for angelic protection from danger and similar matters are no longer included, as they have become more obscure. 

 

It is also worth noting that these original versions of the bedtime prayers were sometimes flawed. For example, we don’t pray to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to bless our beds and watch over us.

 

However, all of this should make you think more carefully about your prayers, including their origin, history, and what they express.

 

And this leads me to wonder: why haven’t we, as Lutherans, fully embraced and used the Evening Prayer that Martin Luther provided to the Church and included in the Small Catechism as we should? 

 

In many ways, Luther has taken everything from the past and present versions of “Now I lay me down to sleep” and provided the Church with a prayer of great depth.

 

Luther’s Evening Prayer goes like this,

I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

 

Ponder the prayer with me.

 

First, Luther begins the prayer by thanking God, his heavenly Father, through His dear Son, Jesus. Remember, all prayers are to be made through Jesus Christ. (John 14:13-14) But then the prayer guides you to thank God your Father for keeping you throughout the day, whether it was a good or a bad day. 

 

However, the next part of the prayer is a crucial aspect of the Christian life that many of our prayers overlook at the end of the day. Luther’s Evening Prayer continues to say, “and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night.”

 

As the Psalmist writes,

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

                        for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8)

 

How can you lie down at night in peace if your sins still trouble you and there hasn’t been forgiveness? You won’t!

 

But know this: forgiveness is peace, and this gracious gift begins with your Savior, Jesus Christ. For this reason, every day you dwell in this world, the temptation of sin surrounds you, but you also have a Father who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for you. So, make it a habit to pray and ask your Father in heaven for this wonderful gift of peace and forgiveness. 

 

Alright, but now the final section of Luther’s Evening Prayer arrives, and it begins as such, 

For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.

 

The Christian now entrusts their bodies and souls into God’s care, trusting Him to watch over them. Co