Tag: Addiction

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Proverbs promotes purity

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭5‬:‭21‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The entire chapter is a contrast/comparison to giving into immoral decisions or staying true to one person and remaining pure. The cast of characters is the young man, referred to as son. The immoral woman, seen as a thirst trap, luring and devouring innocence. And, the wife of one’s youth, depicted as a spring, a fountain filled with blessing and satisfaction.

The wisdom writers get gritty in detail when they ask, “Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone?” Directly referring to not just love but a man’s semen seed for procreation. This is clearly a chapter on purposeful restraint, shutting down the entire fallacy that sex should be abundantly and freely engaged with anyone you like.

Again, since Proverbs is mostly a young man’s wisdom curriculum, I’ll let you figure out how to reverse the roles and applications for young women seeking moral men instead of being seduced by fantasy and false promises of “players.”

Proverbs chapter five gives a summary that captures a strong word of advice for the wise and the fool. God sees all. God knows the motive of EVERY human heart. In the end, the hell or heaven that one finds is determination of decisions. Hell is the cage constructed by our own desires. The ropes of slavery and captivity are woven by our sins. And death awaits because we will lack the will to be made pure and whole. The warning to the young and old – be very careful about giving into the lust and cravings of our body, mind and soul.

The promiscuous lies that promise peace and fulfillment are not just dangerous, they are deadly. Words like chastity and purity are for temporal and eternal safety as well as real satisfaction.

Prayer

Dad,
How absolutely ludicrous that the cultural lies pitched today are all word-swapped, redefining truth. Phrases and words like sexual freedom, exploration, experimentation all masked by this lie. It’s a very clever trap leading to the opposite of everything we really need. It quickly becomes exploitation leaving perpetrators and victims with hollowed out souls, finding no peace. We are left with a vicious cycle of unquenchable desires that become our master of a slaved life. Oh, how we need your Spirit to pour over us. Breathe life in us once again for we have descended back into the dust of our dirty lives.

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Beer Brawlers.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.” Proverbs‬ ‭20:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Honestly, I choose NIV because of their witty play on words. The Hebrew words are interesting. The word for wine isn’t unique it’s just yayin: wine. Ah, but shekar: intoxicating drink, strong drink is different and the word shakar is to be drunk. You can be “shakar” on wine or strong drink.

I believe Noah (Genesis 9:21) is the first guy to be written up for being drunk and the first thing he does is strip naked and lay around in his tent! After what Noah had been through, I can’t blame him for IMMEDIATELY planting a vineyard, patiently waiting for the grapes to ripen and quickly making booze so he could get drunk fast. I’m not saying it was right, but I get it.

History is filled with fermented fruits, then later barley. Then even later, the stronger, aged process of liquor came along. Wine and beer, apparently, have been around for a very long time. The Bible makes a clear distinction between “drinking” and “drunkenness.” One is permitted, the other is just wrong!

The wisdom writers catch a perspective that most drinkers and non-drinkers seem to miss. Anything to do with excessive alcohol or similarly controlled substances that impair judgment and directly leads to unintended consequences should be seen as dangerous and is not worth the momentary relief, levity or fun it proposes!

Proverbs personifies wine and beer as mockers and brawlers (hamah: to murmur, growl, roar, be boisterous) and tells us THEY can LEAD us astray. Like a pair of permanently invisible handcuffs, these excesses carry their victims away and pave a path of addiction, shame-cycles, broken relationships and possibly worse when driving a murder-weapon down the street.

The evidence is clear, one too many means YOU are not in control any longer. I’ve seen this hundreds of times in my family of origin. We had the wine, beer and whiskey drinkers. And although my wine-bibbing kin faired better, because of their restraint, my beer and hard liquor crew were constantly cursing, fighting, bleeding and bashing into other vehicles while driving. I knew one thing when my family gathered – if booze showed up, there was going to be a regrettable, never forgettable brawl! It was enough that slurred speech or boozy-breath can trigger a PTSD response in me.

The Apostle Paul gives the believer an alternative high. I know folks don’t want to look at it this way, but he says “don’t get drunk on booze, get high on the Spirit of God!” (Eph 5:18). Paul even proceeds those words with this, “don’t be foolish.” You want to drink away your sorrows or shoot up to disconnect with the harsh reality and stress – drink in, get “soaked” in the Spirit, shoot up or snort the presence of the living God by the power of the Holy Spirit! Get yourself before your Holy God and let His peace comfort and hold you. Don’t give in, don’t give up – get into God’s presence. Everything else is just a fake and dangerous substitute playing on your pain.

Prayer

Dad,
I’m sure that we often feel like Noah, overwhelmed with the circumstances or even consequences of our life. But we are so desperate for you and it shows up in such lousy ways. We feel trapped, surrounded and see no other way out, so we REACH for the drink, pill, puff or needle. Help us to reach for you! And when we do, please meet us, save us from ourselves and our selfishness. Amen.