“Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways. For a harlot is a deep pit, and an adulterous woman is a narrow well. Surely she lurks as a robber, and increases the faithless among men. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things and your mind will utter perverse things. And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. “They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.”
— Proverbs 23:26-35
This proverb details the dangers found in delighting your eyes in alcohol, rather than in God. When you get down to it, this proverb really pictures the helpless state of an alcoholic. The imagery here is that of immense danger. A serpent that bites, and a viper that sings. He pictures a state of drunkenness where your eyes see strange things, and your mind utters perverse things (which actually happens when you’re drunk in case you were wondering). He even pictures someone who has been sick and beaten and doesn’t even know it. He pictures someone with woe, sorrow, contentions, complaining, wounds, and redness of eyes. But perhaps the saddest part of this proverb is how it ends. A person who delights in alcohol wakes from their drunken slumber, beaten and bruised, and says “I will seek another drink.”
Many of you know my background. I lived on the wrong side of this proverb for many years. I was one who looked at the sparkling in the cup, and gave into it only to have the serpent bite me on the other side of it. I was one who had woes, sorrows, contentions, complaining, wounds, and redness of eyes. I was one who woke up from my drunken slumber beaten and bruised saying “I will seek another drink” (I did this more times than I’m proud of). I’m not just sharing a Bible verse with you in theory saying that we should live by this. I’m showing you that I have experienced both sides of this coin. I have seen for myself that alcohol is in fact the deadly, poisonous, bottomless pit that this proverb says it is.
There are so many dangers connected with alcohol. The drunken stupor that blinds your mind to what your saying; the state of numbness that hinders your ability to see the pain your body is in; the way it poisons you as a serpent when it bites. All of these things are the danger, yet the proverb writer said it was attractive as something that catches your eye when it is red and sparkles in the cup. Alcohol is attractive. That’s why there are so many warnings against it in the Bible. It will destroy you, as a serpent destroys the body. It will send you into a bottomless pit that feels impossible to escape from. It is a dead end road with nothing but troubles. It is a poison. It is a trap. It is a nightmare that is SO unbelievably difficult to wake up from.
As people who claim to serve God, we can’t serve the serpent too. As people who are wearing the name “Christian” we can’t wear the beer goggles too. As people who are to be sober minder, clear thinkers, and on a mission to get to heaven and take others with us, we can’t be the weekend partiers too. We are Christians; not drunkards, and we need to live that way.
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” — Ephesians 5:18
– Kolton Ballance
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