"Inordinate affection brings inordinate pain." Matthew Henry.
The sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply. I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood and I will not speak their names with my lips. (vs. 4)
"Another god." Hmmm. Little "g." Where is your comfort? To what do you run when you need a "fix"? When the world crowds in around you and you want to run, where do you go? If the pain is too great, what makes it feel better for a while? Food? Cigarettes? Another person? Cocaine? Alcohol? Shopping? Meditation? Medication? Exercise? Travel? Sex? On the surface many of these things are not evil. But when pain leads you to "love" one or all of them, you have an idol.
Here is what I have learned over the years. The enemy loves taking your pain and using it to lead you into more pain. The vulnerability of sorrow or disappointment is real. It leaves an aching, bleeding soul that needs to be healed. In desperation, we often look for a "medicine" that fixes us now! The liquor cabinet is right there! That man who has been flirting with us has ratcheted up his attentions. Running a few extra miles feels like the answer. Controlling food so I feel that at least there is one thing that I can manage. We crawl in pain toward the panacea, wanting just not to hurt anymore. All the while the enemy of our souls is enticing our pain toward ruin. In running toward a little "g" we are running away from our Father.
I was watching "Hoarders" yesterday afternoon while putting together some marketing materials for my real estate neighborhoods. Lisa, the subject, is a woman probably about my age although she looks much older. Rats in her home had actually died from ingesting the tons of expired and rotting food that fill her kitchen. Her refrigerator had stopped working years before, yet had food in it. When she bought groceries, she had to hang the bags from the ceiling lights to keep the rodents from eating it before she did. Floor to ceiling litter - like a garbage dump - filled every room of her home. She was even eating some of the expired and rotting food she kept in jars on her shelves. Most telling to me was a jar of hot sauce the cleaners found in the refrigerator. "Oh, my husband likes hot sauce. That is why I saved it." Lisa's husband left twenty years ago. That is how long that jar had been in the fridge.
Ah, her husband. Her idol. He had abused her for years. Isolated her from others. Told her she was a slob and unworthy of love. Lisa's daughter said through her tears that her mom had once kept an extremely clean house. The house had now become a picture of the woman's interior. When asked why she could not throw away the most disgusting garbage from her home, she said: "Everything has some good use for it."
"Then, what are you good for?" asked the therapist. "If you would see keeping this garbage to be more important than living?"
"Me?" she replied. "I don't have any good use."
This is a picture of what the enemy does to us. Wears us down in our pain in order to bring us to absolute submission to what he thinks about us. Ponder it. What is the end to inordinate love for whatever medicates you? Addiction. What is the end to addiction? Slavery. All the pain that drove you to your idol is now multiplied by your inability to get free from it and your original sorrow. Your sorrows are now multiplied. David understood this.
Ever talked to someone who is trying to leave an addiction? Or, even been one yourself. There is, at first, in recovery, a certain tantalization about speaking about the "days of addiction." The name of the lover, the good times at the bar, the highest high - in the past, of course. But the speaking its "name" brings the lie to life again. The addicted relives some of the medicinal effects of the passion and "looks back." Not a good idea. Don't even speak the name of your idol. God is not only jealous of that name, but He is also jealous over your heart. It will take a while to walk out of your trap. To get the cobwebs cleaned from your thinking. Don't muck it up with talking about the good ole days of addiction.
I love how practical the Bible is. God has read our mail. He has forewarned us about everything possible. John, the apostle, ends his first letter this way:
We know that those who are God's children do not continue in sin. The Son keeps them safe, and the Evil One cannot touch them. We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the world. We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we can know the True One. And our lives are in the True One and in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. SO, dear children, keep yourselves away from idols.
'Nuff said.
The sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply. I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood and I will not speak their names with my lips. (vs. 4)
"Another god." Hmmm. Little "g." Where is your comfort? To what do you run when you need a "fix"? When the world crowds in around you and you want to run, where do you go? If the pain is too great, what makes it feel better for a while? Food? Cigarettes? Another person? Cocaine? Alcohol? Shopping? Meditation? Medication? Exercise? Travel? Sex? On the surface many of these things are not evil. But when pain leads you to "love" one or all of them, you have an idol.
Here is what I have learned over the years. The enemy loves taking your pain and using it to lead you into more pain. The vulnerability of sorrow or disappointment is real. It leaves an aching, bleeding soul that needs to be healed. In desperation, we often look for a "medicine" that fixes us now! The liquor cabinet is right there! That man who has been flirting with us has ratcheted up his attentions. Running a few extra miles feels like the answer. Controlling food so I feel that at least there is one thing that I can manage. We crawl in pain toward the panacea, wanting just not to hurt anymore. All the while the enemy of our souls is enticing our pain toward ruin. In running toward a little "g" we are running away from our Father.
I was watching "Hoarders" yesterday afternoon while putting together some marketing materials for my real estate neighborhoods. Lisa, the subject, is a woman probably about my age although she looks much older. Rats in her home had actually died from ingesting the tons of expired and rotting food that fill her kitchen. Her refrigerator had stopped working years before, yet had food in it. When she bought groceries, she had to hang the bags from the ceiling lights to keep the rodents from eating it before she did. Floor to ceiling litter - like a garbage dump - filled every room of her home. She was even eating some of the expired and rotting food she kept in jars on her shelves. Most telling to me was a jar of hot sauce the cleaners found in the refrigerator. "Oh, my husband likes hot sauce. That is why I saved it." Lisa's husband left twenty years ago. That is how long that jar had been in the fridge.
Ah, her husband. Her idol. He had abused her for years. Isolated her from others. Told her she was a slob and unworthy of love. Lisa's daughter said through her tears that her mom had once kept an extremely clean house. The house had now become a picture of the woman's interior. When asked why she could not throw away the most disgusting garbage from her home, she said: "Everything has some good use for it."
"Then, what are you good for?" asked the therapist. "If you would see keeping this garbage to be more important than living?"
"Me?" she replied. "I don't have any good use."
This is a picture of what the enemy does to us. Wears us down in our pain in order to bring us to absolute submission to what he thinks about us. Ponder it. What is the end to inordinate love for whatever medicates you? Addiction. What is the end to addiction? Slavery. All the pain that drove you to your idol is now multiplied by your inability to get free from it and your original sorrow. Your sorrows are now multiplied. David understood this.
Ever talked to someone who is trying to leave an addiction? Or, even been one yourself. There is, at first, in recovery, a certain tantalization about speaking about the "days of addiction." The name of the lover, the good times at the bar, the highest high - in the past, of course. But the speaking its "name" brings the lie to life again. The addicted relives some of the medicinal effects of the passion and "looks back." Not a good idea. Don't even speak the name of your idol. God is not only jealous of that name, but He is also jealous over your heart. It will take a while to walk out of your trap. To get the cobwebs cleaned from your thinking. Don't muck it up with talking about the good ole days of addiction.
I love how practical the Bible is. God has read our mail. He has forewarned us about everything possible. John, the apostle, ends his first letter this way:
We know that those who are God's children do not continue in sin. The Son keeps them safe, and the Evil One cannot touch them. We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the world. We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we can know the True One. And our lives are in the True One and in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. SO, dear children, keep yourselves away from idols.
'Nuff said.
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