A Hard Pill To Swallow

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

I love my grandparents for so many reasons: they are kind, compassionate, loving, godly and prayer warriors. They've really set an example for me in my own life as I try to walk with God. Whenever you need to talk, or just to decompress, you're always welcome at their house to come sit in a rocking chair and visit. I love them dearly.

My Grandmother also has quite the stash of horse pills at their home.

I'm not sure where the horse pills came from. Probably from the traveling horse doctor. I know what they're designed for: horses, not humans. They're some kind of powerful antibiotic, but that's about all I've been told. I also know that whenever someone gets sick and comes over to the house they are offered one of the horse pills. I, myself, have taken quite a few over the years. Let me describe these pills to you: You're familiar with the gel tabs or the yummy chocolate flavored advil or the small and easy to swallow normal pills for all symptoms, I assume? The horse pills have none of these frills. They are easily the size of my thumb. I tried once to cut one in half, but the pill became so jagged that it literally lacerated my throat as I attempted to swallow it down. So, you've got to do it whole. And, let me tell you, there's a lot of gasping and gagging that goes on before that thing goes down your gullet. My palms get sweaty whenever I see one. They are a literally a hard pill to swallow.

And hence the expression: "That's a hard pill to swallow."

On Wednesday nights we're studying the book of Malachi, and the Israelites in Malachi's time had some hard pills to swallow. The Holy Spirit, through the Prophet Malachi, basically tells the people that if they are going to come to corporately worship and just go through the motions with their hearts elsewhere it would be better if they just didn't show up. If they were not going to give cheerfully or out of a heart of joy then it would be better for them not to give at all (that's a New Testament interpretation of Chapter 3). If they were going to come to worship and just do the same thing they had always done because it was what they had always done with no heart change it would be better for them to just close the doors of the Temple.

That's a hard pill to swallow! To think that if we're not living as a New Testament Church--loving the poor, caring for one another, walking humbly with God, doing justice--we'd do just as well to shut the whole thing down and quit playing games and bringing dishonor to the name of God.

So, what's our alternative? What kind of lives do we lead? The Prophet Isaiah says it well:

This is the kind of fast I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.

What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of Glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, "Here I Am."