Miracle Moment

“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has red eyes? Those who linger over wine, those who go looking for mixed wine. Don’t gaze at wine when it is red, when it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say absurd things. You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast. ‘They struck me, but I didn’t know it! When will I wake up? I’ll look for another drink.'” (Proverbs 23:29-35)

OMG! You couldn’t get a better picture of someone with a substance abuse problem. Proverbs nails it. You ever got tore up and said something stupid which resulted in getting your tail kicked? I know I have. Ever just fell down and got wounds for no reason? How about the barfly who sits at the counter and cries all night about how bad life is. You ever had red eyes that Visine couldn’t help?

The addict has woes, sorrows and complaints (of their own making most of the time). “Wah, I lost my spouse.” “Well, why did they leave?” “Aw, s/he got all upset because I didn’t come home for three days…again. You think s/he’d be used to it by now.” Uh, come on man, how long you think people are gonna put up with that kind of behavior. We get hung up on our issues and forget the world is still moving forward for everyone else. They don’t want to get sucked into our delusion.

Why do people get caught up in substance abuse? Many reasons really. For some people it happens when they are young because of peer pressure. It happens for a lot of people because they are trying to escape the pain of reality. For some it starts out as a legitimate need, perhaps pain medicine after a surgery or something of that nature.

Whatever the path to addiction, the end result is the same. All addicts get caught up in a little bubble of life that consists of hunting up their next high. Like the scripture above says, when you’re high you see strange things, you say ridiculous things, your world may even physically swirl from too much. Shoot, I heard a train one time! You may even say that this is the last time, but when you wake up getting high is the first thing on the agenda.

Well what can an addicted person do to stop the cycle? First thing is to make a decision to seek help from a source higher than themselves and that would be God. He created us and He can fix us, but I’ve never seen God override a person’s free will. We must choose to surrender to Him. Once we lay down our will, God more than meets us halfway. He gives us every opportunity to be made whole but go into it knowing that it is a journey. It is more like a marathon than a sprint.

There will be some struggles because God isn’t going to put a band-aid over an open wound. He’s going to do divine surgery, going to the root of the problem because addiction is just a symptom of a deeper issue. Don’t get discouraged, every day you’re going to get stronger. As you stay in church and stay in the Word, changing out your old routines and thought processes with the new ways of the Lord you are going to begin seeing things in a new light.

Another key in the above scripture is to not “gaze on the wine.” We can’t think we can be around or even do just a little bit of our choice substance. We’re hardcore and we’re wired for excess so don’t even kid yourself. Stay totally away from it and the people that tempt you. Oh yeah, if you fall, dust off and get back up, immediately. You got this. God will see you through, He has great purpose for you.

PRAYER:

Lord, I pray for myself and others who may have an addiction (drugs, alcohol, lust, food). I ask that You would totally deliver us from the darkness and give us the ability to stand for You. We take total responsibility for ourselves and our actions. Cleanse us Lord, transform our minds with Your Word, restore our friends and family, make us whole. Forgive us Lord for our rebellion and selfishness. Lord, I surrender to You wholly, in the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.