Well my daughters have officially reached a milestone in their march toward adolescence. They’ve said goodbye to tasty, bubble gum flavored amoxicillin, and started taking their medicine the adult way–by swallowing big, nasty pills. 

Do you remember the trauma of trying to swallow your first pill? You had to get it far enough back that it wouldn’t swirl around in your mouth causing you to taste it, but you didn’t want it so far back that it gagged you. In the early days of grown up pill swallowing it usually took several attempts, and the pill’s dye had melted on our fingers and was making us nauseous before we could finally choke it down. 

And that was the good pills. What about the bitter ones that life seems to force on us? How have you done swallowing those? 

There’s a fascinating Scripture in Exodus 12:8 where God tells His people to eat the Passover lamb (symbolic of Jesus) “with bitter herbs.” In that Old Testament practice, there is a New Testament truth that is crucial for us today. The only way we can handle life’s bitter herbs is by reaching for the lamb each time they touch our lips.

At the end of our life we will all be able to say, “I’ve swallowed some nasty pills in my day–I’ve eaten the bitter herbs.” But I hope we can go on to say, “But I’ve also eaten the Lamb–and that has made all the difference.”