A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 11 June 2015. Presented to River Street Cafe on 22 January 2016
Read
Proverbs 23:19-21
Why do
I turn to substances for help?
This
is a question that I have actually heard quite a bit in my life. I was
privileged to be invited to a birthday party at AA recently and at these
celebrations one hears, among other things, the remarkable stories of success
as the Lord delivers people from our addictions.
We
have been blessed to serve the Lord, among other places, in Winnipeg’s North
End, Stony Mountain Penitentiary, and Vancouver’s downtown eastside with The
Salvation Army. There are many stories. Some are of wonderful successes as the
Lord transforms lives and some are of daily struggles that continue for a
lifetime.
I
think of friends from our time on Vancouver Island. The day she and her husband
accepted the Lord she stood up sober and never turned back. He has fought
almost everyday to defend his sobriety: It is a struggle.
To
some of us, substances possess a Siren-like song: this song has such a powerful
draw. In Greek mythology, the Sirens are creatures with the head of a woman and
the body of a bird. They live on islands and with their irresistible song lure
mariners to their destruction as they crash on the rocks near their island.
We
have seen people as young as elementary school age who have been tempted by
this Siren song to a slow (or quick) slide into ‘skid row’ and many of my
friends from prison wound up there, in part, because they succumbed to
substance’s Siren song; for them the Siren’s song ended in the song of sirens
coming to take them away.
Myself
even, I confess, there are days when a part of me would really like the
temporary release that substances seem to offer but, with the Lord’s help, I
will continue to persevere and I will finish the race – clean.
I have
a friend who continuously asks me if it ever gets easy; I have another friend
who reminds me that it is just one day at a time. One thing that I have noticed
about substances and other struggles in our lives is that the more we turn to
the Lord, the easier it becomes to resist temptation and on the days when we
lose the battle with temptation, it is very important that we don’t surrender
the war. With the Lord, our walk truly is one day at a time.
Is
there a time when you have fallen prey to the Siren call of something that has
enslaved your mind or body? How has the Lord delivered you from addictions
–alcohol, drugs (prescription or otherwise), video games, chocolate,
overeating, sloth, etc.? And as our walk with the Lord is truly one day at a
time, how will you draw on His support to be protected from temptation today?
[1] Based on the article by Captain Michael Ramsay. Why do I turn to
substances for help? Nipawin Journal (December 2007) On-line:
http://sheepspeak.com/localmedia.htm#substances 1
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