Sometimes I forget the awesome, wondrous, breathtaking, things that the Lord has done for Ian. Psalm 111 freshly reminded me that God has done great things:

Psalm 111:2-4, 7

“Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them.
Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the Lord is gracious and merciful…
The works of his hands are faithful and just…”

God’s saving Ian’s life last September is an awesome work! No less majestic that his work at the Red Sea, no less glorious than his raising of Lazarus from the dead. Ian should have died on impact, there’s no reason he should have lived. But he survived the crash. “Great are the works of the Lord”. Ian should have died on the life-flight to Pittsburgh. But God kept his heart beating, his lungs breathing. “Full of splendor and majesty is His work”. Ian should have died in the ICU. His brain was dying, the doctors told us that brain death was imminent, the funeral home had been called. But overnight, things changed, brain death was no longer imminent, he’d “somehow” made it over the hump. Ian should be dead, there’s no question about that. But God saved him. “He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful…”

So often I forget these majestic works of the Lord, full of splendor, that I have seen with my own eyes. Sometimes I forget that Ian should have died, that death was coming upon him like the Egyptians came upon the Israelites at the Red Sea. And when I forget the awesome deeds that the Lord has worked on Ian’s behalf, I despair. Why, because if it wasn’t God who saved Ian, then there’s no reason to think that God will continue the good work he began. If Ian just happened to live, than our only hope for the future is the chance that Ian might just happen to fully recover.

Oh, the hope that remembering the works of the Lord brings! I love how Charles Spurgeon puts it:

“I like to think of every blessing of grace that I have recieved as coming from God because each mercy then becomes prophetic of more. God is unchangeable, and therefore what He has given He will give again. The stream that has begun to flow will never cease flowing. The more the Lord gives, the more we may expect. Each mercy as it comes makes room for another larger than itself, even as the narrow end of the wedge opens the way for its wider portion. John Bunyan said that God’s flowers bloom double: not only do they bloom double, but they bloom sevenfold. Therefore be encouraged. The least of the things that are freely given to us by God draws behind it an endless chain of more than golden links of love.”

God has done awesome deeds on Ian’s behalf, things are full of splendor and majesty on Ian’s behalf. And these past deeds are only the light along the horizon of the coming dawn.

-David