Can I
pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.
In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who
has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot
eyes?
Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites
like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights, and
your mind will imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the
high seas, lying on top of the rigging.
“They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?”
Proverbs 23:29-35
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to
God.
I’ve been struggling with
an issue for some time now. A family dear to me is being impacted by misuse of
alcohol.
Now I’m no stranger to what
alcohol does to people although I have never had a drink myself. I was a Navy
Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor for three years onboard a ship I was assigned
to and in that role, I dealt with a number of people who wrangled with a
drinking problem. I will say that I never have seen anything good come out of
using alcohol, only bad things done by people who were typically good. I
believe that this along with my parents not openly drinking at home when I was
growing up caused me to reject the thought of trying alcohol at all in my life.
In the case of the family I
mentioned, the drinking of one of the family members started out innocent
enough. It was a drink at home or an outing to a club with some friends to have
a few drinks. But as it happens in so many cases, one or two drinks no longer
could give the user the same feel they had before as their body developed a
tolerance for alcohol. Now, one or two drinks turned into three or four or five
and then a whole six pack in a day. And as the amount of alcohol increased, so
too did the impact it had on the rest of the family.
The spouse of the person in
mention was dealing more and more with raising three kids without the help of
their partner who more increasingly was too drunk to assist. When they weren’t
drinking, often leaving the home to do so, they were sleeping off the effects
of drinking. The stress and pressure mounted on the spouse caring for the
children so much that they even began drinking and now you have a real recipe
for disaster. Two parents drinking in the midst of three children, three very
impressionable children.
Thankfully, the care
provider stopped drinking and came to their senses. The other partner however
continued to drink more and more, denying there was a problem which is often the
indicator that an alcohol problem is going to get worse and worse and worse
until something serious happens. For until someone with an alcohol problem
admits they have a problem and seeks help, they will continue to travel down
the road of destruction until something or someone intervenes and changes the
story.
My prayer is that the
person in mention here will wake up, confess they have an issue, and seek help.
And my deepest prayer is that the help they seek is from the Lord, the only One
who has the strength and power to pull us out of the pit of sin and temptation
into the safety of His righteousness.
Well, alcohol abuse isn’t
just a present day problem. It’s obvious that the people of Israel who lived
more than 2,000 years ago struggled with the same issue. We see this through
the 19th of the thirty Sayings of the Wise found between Proverbs 22:17 and
Chapter 24. Look at these words regarding the misuse of alcohol and the
negative impact it has on a person:
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who
has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when
it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a
viper. Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing
things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the
rigging.
“They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” Proverbs 23:29-35
Note here how nothing good
comes out of alcohol use. Woe, sorrow, strife, complaints, needless bruises,
and bloodshot eyes are just some of the things that are a byproduct of a person
who drinks too much, those who linger over wine. Physical damage, psychological
damage, and emotional damage all come from misusing alcohol and it not only
impacts the abuser but their family as well. This is the insidious nature of
alcohol abuse. It rarely is localized where it affects just the abuser.
Note as well the way
alcohol is depicted through wonderfully crafted words as being a tempter,
tantalizing one to partake of it before unleashing its fury. It sparkles in the
cup and goes down smoothly but the user is deceived into thinking they are
drinking something harmless. After taking the drink, they find out the hard way
how alcohol bites and poisons like a snake, from the inside out. This is why I
refer to alcohol as the devil’s drink. Anything that alters a person to be less
than what the Lord wants them to be is no good, and there is no argument that
alcohol impairs the user in some way when not consumed in moderation and with
discernment.
I don’t know where you are
today on this matter but I do think that the word of God is calling us to
examine our drinking habits if we do drink. There are definite cautions within
these verses of Saying 19 as the Lord is telling us to “do not” overdo it when
it comes to drinking, to “do not” allow the temptations of alcohol dominate our
lives and pull us away from His will and way, and to “do not” lose control of
who we are in Him by allowing alcohol to mark our steps and our actions.
Friends, the Lord is
speaking loudly here and His warnings are clear.
Are we listening?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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