Just Take Your Medicine

“Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.” (Zep 1:7 AV)

The preacher, Zephaniah, was sent to the tribe of Judah during the reign of Josiah.  His warning is not only to the erring tribe of Judah, but eventually he turns his warning to the whole world.  The verse above is just such a case.  His command to hold peace as the presence of the LORD is said to all, but in particular, the erring heathen.  This is clearly as statement of silence before a judge.  I can understand this!  The LORD saw fit to ask me to serve on a jury.  The opening day of the trial, during the opening statements of the prosecutor, the defendant spouted off regarding how unfair everyone was.  Repeatedly, the judge attempted to silence him.  He wouldn’t listen.  The jury was dismissed.  We arrived back in the courtroom with the judge requiring the defendant to remain quiet.  Again, when the prosecutor began calling his witnesses, the defendant piped up, claiming his innocence and the unfairness of the world.  We were dismissed again.  He pled out. This is the understanding here.  When God judges, unless He asks for our response, we are to hold our peace.  But there is another, similar, way in which to apply this.  It is during the times of chastening from the LORD.

Spanking a child for the disobedience of which he is guilty can be pretty interesting.  Most begin to weep even before a strike is leveled.  As the paddle increases its count, tears, sobbing, and even screaming increase.  These outbursts are not equal to the chastening received.  The chastening is much less than the child lets on.  He believes the more he screams and cries, the less the chastening might be.  Solomon, in his wisdom, warns us of such a ploy.  He instructs us not to let the screaming and crying of a child dissuade us from reasonable correction.  But there is more to it than that.  There is respect for authority at issue here as well.  By screaming and crying, the child is rejecting the right of the authority to apply correction.  His temper tantrum is a tool to strike back at what he considers to be unreasonable punishment.  The more he screams and the louder he gets, he is venting that rebellion as a way to make the experience just as uncomfortable for the authority figure as it is for him.  He lashes out with is reaction as a way to voice his objection over what he rightly deserves.

We use the phrase, “Just take your medicine” to mean that we need to bear down and accept unpleasantness as a means to making us a better person.  This was before the days of flavored cough syrups or easy swallow gel caps.  Taking medicine was not a fun thing.  This was the day when a scraped knee meant a healthy dose of hydrogen peroxide and that awful orange stuff thy put on afterwards.  Now, we simply wash it off with soap and water, place a liberal amount of antibacterial cream, and patch it up.  No sting.  This was before the invention of tear free baby shampoo!  Before the day when the gave away Novocain for a dental procedure.  Just take your medicine.  We live in generation that has to be comfortable and happy all the time.  If any kind of correction comes our way, we wilt like a summer flower at the first frost.  Just take your medicine.  If the LORD is to correct, we have no response other than remorse and repentance that would be worthy of the King of Kings!  Just be quiet and take your medicine.