The power of medicine and the power of God

We were recently notified that some of the medical staff in the intensive care unit and the emergency department at Children's Hospital are still thinking about Micah's case. They, like ourselves, are trying to determine how this small incident of a fall could turn into such a tragedy resulting in death. Why weren't the doctors and paramedics able to get him to breathe and live again? Even with the aspirated pea in one of his lungs, why wasn't he able to use his other lung to breathe? How did the pneumonia spread so fast, especially given that he received medical care, with high doses of antibiotic, in each of the previous four days?

Whether or not our modern medicine should have saved him, the plain fact of the matter is that modern medicine, in its own right, absolutely failed my son. How much have I (and we) trusted in modern medicine? But is modern medicine the sustainer of life or is God?

When going to war, King David could have based his decisions on the size of his army vis-a-vis the size of his opponent's army. Instead, he trusted in the Lord. "Some may trust in chariots, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." Psalm 20:7. King David was victorious in battle because the Lord, not David, caused it so. Psalm 22.

Pontius Pilate thought that he had control over whether Jesus lived or died. John 19:10. But Jesus made it clear to Pilate that ultimate authority was in God's hands. John 19:11.

Three weeks ago, I thought that Micah was in good health. That Micah would go to kindergarten. That I would grow old with Micah. That Micah would be at my bedside when I died. God had other plans. Micah's death was not ultimately because of an aspirated pea, pneumonia, or a fall from a high chair, but because of God's sovereign (currently unknown) plan.

"Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me [Micah],
when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:16.