The divinity of modern medicine

A leader in my life recently had her baby and I hadn't seen her in about a month. I finally got to see her, her husband, and her new baby boy today. They told me the story of her thirty-something hour delivery processes and how problem after problem had arisen. The worst part to me was that at one point they gave her a medication that she reacted abnormally to, and ended up for twelve hours not being able to speak, stay coherent, or remember where she was, what was happening, or even who her loving husband was. Today as he stood close to his wife and baby, rubbing her arm, pressing his cheek to her neck, he told us that there was a point in which she was bleeding, incoherent, and it was impossible for the baby to be born naturally, and that if it were one hundred years ago, her and their baby boy would be dead. I was struck. Struck by the most passionate and sincere of loves, struck by the idea of him losing what gives him vitality, and struck by the miraculous blessing of modern day science. I was overtaken by horror and awe at the total devastation that could have occurred, and I thank God that he spared humanity such a jarring distortion from the way it should be.

What a blessing. What a blessing that love like theirs still exists. What a blessing that a beautiful human being was brought into this world. What a blessing that it all turned out with a story book ending. What a blessing that we live in this day and age. What a blessing modern technology and medical science are to us.

It has been argued in circles claiming to be Christian that science and medicine are not spiritual, not necessarily of God: that prayer and faith that produce unexplainable miracles are much more holy and divine. But I say that if modern medicine can save the life of a loved wife and son in the face of total chaos and dysfunction that that is a blessing. That is divine. That is a gift straight from God no matter how explainable it is.

When I find it hard to praise God all I'll need to think of are the thousands upon thousands of husbands who lost their wives and children before and the incredible amount of broken families of the past. Praise the Lord for where he's brought us.

Praise the Lord.

10/6/11