A Product of Medical Modernity

I am so a product of my culture and context.

For the last couple of days I have been praying for friend and his family about some medical issue they have been dealing with. It is the kind of issues that no husband, wife, dad, or mom wants to ever go through. Ever. This fear of loss. The fear of the unknown. It's scary and overwhelming not knowing what is God is up to and where this is leading. I can't imagine how tough it was.

We were privileged to be on their short list of people that they shared this tough time with in order to pray and support them. It is a great honor to stand in the gap for people who during times like these have a hard time praying themselves (even thought they know God loves them and is with them). So we prayed. And we waited. And waited and waited. Just a few days praying for friends going through something like this can feel like few weeks.

Finally, we got the call. Great news! Our prayer for our big God to intervene in slightest of ways and smallest of chances (given doctor diagnosis) was answered! Woohoo! Yea, God!

And literally the first words out of my mouth were, "So what's the medical explaination behind the good news?" How do the doctors explain this? What do the tests tell us?

So much for praying when the first inclination after hearing the good news is to write God out of the equation. Ugh.

How quick I am at praying and, yet, how quick I am at attributing the miracle to doctors, medicine, misdiagnosis, or medical procedures, instead of the intervention of a gracious, loving, omnipotent God who heard our prayers and responded out of lovingkindess with mercy and compassion.

What if there were simply no expectation that at one moment the once dire and hopeless condition was miraculously changed because the God of the universe is still in the miracle business that responds to faith and acts to inspire faith? What if?

There may be all sort of logical medical reason which are miraculous in and of themselves given the wisdom that God gives medical researchers and doctors whom He uses to heal people. But maybe, just maybe, this was one time where one moment there was no hope and then instantly in the next there was healing. All because that is who He is. That is what He is about. That is what He still does.

Oh, me of little faith.