Prayer Shield

Two weeks before the medical mission team and I were scheduled to leave for Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, we received the devastating news. Ebola had broken out. The decision had to be made almost immediately—do we go or cancel? Ebola, we quickly learned, is a deadly disease for with no known cure and is transmitted by bodily fluids, including perspiration. At the time there were only a few cases in Liberia, but we did not want to expose anyone on our team to the disease. Our medical team was going to set up a clinic, so the risk was great because we would be handling bodily fluids.

As we weighed the risks versus rewards of the trip, we knew the Liberians had been waiting for months for our promised visit, bringing medical help they would otherwise never receive. We did not want to disappoint them, but we didn’t want to contract Ebola either. After receiving some reassurance from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and knowing we could count on our congregation to cover us in prayer, we made the decision to go, but not without a prayer shield. We chose Psalm 91, and asked our congregation to pray it over us daily. Throughout our time in Liberia, knowing every day we could encounter the deadly virus, I found five ways to wield this Psalm as a shield of protection.

Step One—Memorize. My disciple Bible study class had ‘coincidentally’ chosen to memorize this Psalm weeks earlier and had almost completed that commitment by the time we left. When the bus pulled out of our church parking lot to take our medical mission team to the airport, my Bible study class had memorized all but one verse. I never dreamed I would be so glad to have a psalm committed to memory. When I found myself carrying bodily fluids from the medical clinic to the lab, I recited “For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.” (Psalm 91:3, emphasis added) When a Samaritan’s Purse doctor on the plane over said, “Don’t get Ebola or your will die,” I breathed in and thought, He commands his angels concerning us to guard us in all our ways. (Psalm 91:11)

Step two—Visualize. Our prayer shield psalm has beautiful imagery: “he will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge.” (Psalm 91:4) Mother hens and mother ducks, among other fowl, hide their little ones under their feathers. I pulled up pictures on the internet of birds sheltering their young under strong and magnificent wings. It helped to see myself as a baby bird, with the mighty wings of God spread over me, nestled up to my Protector, feeling safe despite the unseen predator virus somewhere in the vicinity. “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you” (v. 7) brought images of our team standing tall even when everyone else lay on the ground around us. “On their hands [angels] will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” (v. 12) I saw mighty beings holding us up with their hands above all danger. When we recited, “The Lord, my refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust,” (v. 2) I visualized a strong castle, impenetrable to attack, within which our team was safe.

Step Three—Act it out. As a leader of our Bible study, I wanted to help my class memorize Psalm 91, so I created hand signs to make it easier. The Psalm begins with “You who live in the shelter of the Most High.” (v. 1) For shelter, I raised my right hand, cupped, high over my head and moved it back and forth indicating a covering or shelter. “For he will deliver you from … the deadly pestilence. (v. 3) For pestilence, we put our thumbs and index fingers together in the shape of a triangle, which is the shape of the biohazard warning sign. For “he will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge,” (v. 4) we flapped our arms like a bird flying. “You will not fear the … arrow that flies by day” (v. 5) had us pulling our right arms back as if we were pulling the string and extending our left arms forward with the bow. As our medical team recited the Psalm every morning before going to the work site, the hand motions helped us remember the words.

Step Four—Angle. Here, because I had memorized the psalm, I could pull out a verse to fit the danger du jour. When we rode through rough areas on the way to the clinic every day, I would angle the psalm toward the verse that promised protection from what man can do to us: “You will not fear the terror of the night.” (v. 5) When we encountered sick people, not knowing which illness caused it, I angled it toward “the pestilence that stalks in darkness.” (v. 6) When the enemy attacked and caused me to doubt if any of us would ever get home alive, I angled it toward the promises at the end of the psalm, “With long life I will satisfy them and show them my salvation.” (v. 6)

Step Five—Join together. Every morning before going to the clinic, our team prayed Psalm 91 together. At home our church family prayed it over us every day. The pastor of the Liberian church we attended on Easter Sunday told us his church had prayed and fasted for our safety. We claimed the promise of Matthew 18:19, “…if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” With so many of our brothers and sisters at home and in Liberia joining with us in asking God to deliver us from the deadly pestilence, we confessed God would do it. Psalm 91:4 promises “his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.”

The incubation period for Ebola is three weeks. When we boarded the plane to come home, one of the flight attendants came on the intercom and asked if there was a doctor on board. One of our doctors stepped out of his seat and was asked to assist a passenger with a fever. A few minutes later the flight attendants came through the cabin spraying some kind of disinfectant and told us that the sick passenger had been taken to a clinic. Once more the Ebola threat surfaced. We knew we had to pray Psalm 91 over our team member for three more weeks. Twenty one days later we breathed a sigh of relief, when our doctor was declared healthy. Our prayer shield held firm. We were out of danger, but not before my prayer life moved to a new level.