Here is the experience of a child of seven who was reading in school the chapter which tells of the sacrifice of Isaac:
Isaac was on the way to Mount Moria with his father; then he lay on the altar, bound, waiting to be sacrificed. My heart began to beat even faster; it actually sobbed with pity for Isaac. Behold, Abraham now lifted the knife. And now my heart froze within me with fright. Suddenly, the voice of the angel was heard: "Abraham, lay not your hand upon the lad, for now I know that you fear God." And here I broke out in tears and wept aloud. "Why are you crying?" asked the rabbi. "You know that Isaac was not killed."
And I said to him, still weeping, "But, rabbi, supposing the angel had come a second too late?"
The rabbi conforted me and calmed me by telling me that an angel cannot come late.
An angel cannot be late, but man, made of flesh and blood, may be.
Meditation based on Ezekiel 34:25-31; delivered January 31, 1967