Delusion

For Wednesday, July 31, 2007
Proverbs 23:29-25

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who tarry long over wine;
those who go to try mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
32 In the end it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things.
34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.
35 "They struck me," you will say,
"but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I must have another drink."

The key in understanding this teaching lies in the phrases "Who has wounds without cause?" and "they struck me...but I was not hurt." Inebriation creates delusion. The deeper the inebriation the deeper the delusion and more frightening it turns. It exagerates experience; it brings out one's fears. These verses describe a nightmare. Even then, one might think that the experience would wake a person to his senses. He will say to himself, "I'll never do that again." But instead, he wants another drink.

This is the way it is with worldly pleasures. They make their appeal to our senses, giving us the feeling of being in control. They then remove our self-control and take us over. So is the way of drinking, of drugs, of illicit sex, of gambling and anything that draws us from pleasure in our God.

"I must have..." Is there anything in your life which you would say with these words? Then beware. Already delusion is affecting you. Esau thought he must have a bowl of stew. Achan thought he must have silver. Amnon thought he must have his sister Tamar.

The Lord is the only whom you must have. Without him, we have nothing; with him we have all that we need. Without him we live in a delusion; with him we see clearly the way things are and what we truly have.