by Pat Cantwell

Daily we hear the sound of aircraft from CAFB, circling above our home in Portales.  Our grandson shouts with glee as we run out the door to see them.  After living in Roosevelt County for 42 years, I feel proud to have the base as neighbors.  And yet, every time I see the airmen or their wives and children, my heart clinches within me. The sacrifices that these young families are enduring are a horror beyond imaging to most of us.  I must speak the truth to you.  The answers are in His Word- Psalm 91. 

That is why I was so excited to find a book, entitled Psalm 91, Military Edition by Peggy Joyce.  (This book is available from your chaplain or Amazon) Thirty-two years ago, when my son developed a seizure disorder, I was told by a CAFB pilot’s wife to pray Psalm 91 over him.  This wife explained to me that she had been living in total panic every time her husband flew until she began to pray Psalm 91 for both of them. I was so surprised by her story, because this woman, who stood before me, was completely filled with the peace of the Lord.   

 At that time, my son was 3 years old and had been diagnosed at M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, with a seizure disorder of unknown origin, with no specific medications to treat it, and no research being done in that disease area.  So when the Pilot’s wife told me about Psalm 91, I felt like I had been dying of thirst and she had given me cool water to drink.  I memorized the Psalm and spoke it over and over my son.  A month after we returned from Houston, our son was seizure free.

Let’s look at Psalm 91. It can be divided into three parts. The FIRST part, verses 1-2, describes what you do. You decide where you dwell (live).  You either, live in the Shelter of the Most High God and abide in the Shadow of the Almighty or you don’t. Then you say to the Lord, “You are my refuge and my fortress”.   “I trust you God.” “I love you.” That is all you do. But you do it with all of your heart.

 The SECOND part: verses 3-13, God tells you what He will do for you, forever.

• Let me list a few of the Blessings: 
• God will deliver you from: the deadly pestilence, from the snare of the trap, from arrows that fly by day, from the fear of the terror of night.
• God will cause you not to be afraid: of pestilence that stalks in darkness, of the destruction that lays waste at noon, of a plague coming near your tent.
• God tells you: …ten thousand may fall at your right hand, but it shall not come near to you.
• God will give His angels charge to guard you in all your ways. You will tread on the lion, serpent.

Finally, in the THIRD part verses 14-16, God speaks directly to you, saying to you:

• “I WILL DELIVER YOU; I WILL ANSWER YOUR CALL; I WILL BE WITH YOU IN TROUBLE; I WILL RESCUE YOU AND HONOR YOU.”
• Then the greatest words of all: GOD SAYS TO YOU, “WITH A LONG LIFE I WILL SATISFY YOU AND SHOW YOU MY SALVATION.”

May you also drink this Living Water.