I Want Medicine Too!
Recently I took Jacob, my 4 year old, and Bella, my 2 year old, to get the flu shot. We arrived at Kaiser in San Dimas and found a long line and took our place at the end. Jacob has received the flu shot a few times now and had a hunch about what was going to happen. He asked me, "Am I going to get a shot?" I tried to ignore him, but he persisted. Finally, I answered him, "We'll see."
After about thirty minutes in line, it was just about our turn to get our shots. I went first. Jacob watched as they poked the needle into my skin. Jacob was next. I sat him down in the chair, and he started crying and would not stay put. I had to hold him down as the nurse gave him a shot. He started crying even louder. I thought for sure that his reaction would scare Bella, and that I'd have to hold her down too. I looked at her, and to my surprise she said, "Daddy, I want medicine too!" I was shocked at her response, and for the first time I thought that maybe this child that seems so intelligent in every other area isn't the sharpest pencil in the box after all. She got her shot very willingly and proceeded to cry just as much as Jacob had. Getting medicine wasn't so fun after all!
The whole incident reminds me of how easily we get ourselves wrapped up in sin. We see its devastating effects all around us, but when it comes knocking our our door, we somehow think that it won't have the same effect on us. The book of Judges describes a time (much like our own) when "all the people did what was right in their own eyes" (17:6). They thought they knew what was best for themselves, but whenever they lived according to what was right in their own eyes, they got themselves in trouble and God had to rescue them.
Just like the Israelites in the time of Judges, we are not very good at figuring out what is good for us. Things that seem to be good are really just sin in disguise. Proverbs 16:25 puts it this way, "Sometimes there is a way that seems to be right, but in the end it is the way to death." Just like Bella who wanted to see what medicine was like and ended up experiencing the pain of a needle prick, we follow what seems right in our own eyes and then endure the pain of the sin that results. That is why it is so important to "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight" (Proverbs 3:5), "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8).
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