Proverbs 23:29-35 Wise Words #18
Today’s words are a “no nonsense” look at the root cause of a LOT of needless suffering. Turning to the drink caused them and turning back to it will NOT solve them.
Our author directly links woe, sorrow, strife, complaining, unexplained wounds, and red eyes to alcohol. He puts no disclaimers to this association beyond that it is not an occasional drinking issue. It is tied to someone who spends a lot of time drinking.
I did a little research of my own and found statistics linking violent crime and alcohol. Most of the statistics don’t specify that the alcohol is the reason for the violent crimes but that alcohol is involved in a large percentage of violent crimes, including murder. One study states that 70% of the alcohol related violent crimes occur in the home! That’s a pretty scarry number. I’m providing a link to one website that lays it all out for anyone to see. Prolonged, excessive and binge drinking play a major role in violence.
“Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly” (verse 31) does not mean turn your eyes away when drinking red wine or drink only white. It is describing gazing longingly at the “wine” or other drink. It is the “just one more” phenomenon. “It looks so good” coupled with “It helps me forget my troubles when I drink it” belief.
“In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder” (verse 30) speaks the FULL truth of the matter. Drinking to ‘forget’ or because you can’t resist its call is a deadly snake bite. The actual bite (first hooked) might be quick but the poison lingers in your body. The ‘poison’ stays as long as you are tied to the drink. You cannot get free of it while continuing to engage in drinking.
Another thing about the serpent’s bite is that he strikes out of nowhere. You most often don’t see it coming until the last second. By then it is too late to escape. Most people don’t become alcoholics overnight or with their first drink. The go down in stages. From social drinking to one with each meal, to closet drinking, to always having a drink in their hand, to constantly falling down drunk. When you reach the point where you have to have a drink to even start your day, you know the alcohol has won the battle.
But it HASN’T won the war until YOU quit fighting. And it WILL kill you if you don’t fight back. Our bible doesn’t highlight on the way back. It cautions, instead, against even setting foot down that path. There are agencies who can reach out and help you when you do take the path. God can and will help too, if you turn to Him in true repentance and seek restoration. He can’t help you though if you won’t help yourself. This is NOT a place for ‘lip service’. Commitment, dedication, and determination are essential to crawling your way back up. It didn’t happen overnight, so don’t expect to be released overnight either.
God IS ABLE to deliver a person in an instant, IF He sees that as the path for their life where they will learn the most. He usually holds fast to our hands while we weather the storms together. There are lessons along the way that we need to learn in order to prevent ourselves from falling back into the behavior/pit we are trying to crawl out of.
It takes a changed heart to have any hope for a changed life. You cannot have one without the other with ANYTHING you are trying to lay down. I have had MANY changes in my life while walking through the lessons laid before me. And I’m CERTAIN that I have MANY more to come. But I have not personally or peripherally faced this issue. I have family members who have struggled (or may still struggle) with this issue but we are far removed from one another and I am spared the reach of their pain. For those of my family who do interact with the first members, I pray they can reach them before death does.
Father God, THANK YOU for sparing me this particular lesson. I have enough ‘addiction issues’ of my own without this. The eating disorder that had me in its grasp for so long is one of them. Right now as I prayed to You through my fingers, I felt You tell me to stop ‘calling it “my own”’. I cannot ignore it or pretend the ‘cravings’ don’t exist, but I can call out the spirit of perfection or ‘not enough’ and tell them to SHUT THEIR TRAPS!!! Thanks for that lesson today Father and Spirit. Help me continue to distance myself from those hateful and hurtful desires. Give me strength to turn my head instead of ‘looking longingly’ into the ‘cup’. Help me FULLY learn my lesson so I can leave this behind.
