What's Up About Alcohol

What's Up About Alcohol

by Rev.Timothy G. Porter

Proverbs 23:29-23:34

For full testimony about alcohol and what it caused in my life email me tim.porter89@gamil.com or PM here or call /text (864) 430-4476

I took my first drink at young age. continued to drink in middle school and all through high school. after I married I discovered God was dealing with my life in some sort of way. the drinking gor worse and i continued for many years. never being ill with my wife of childern or never missing work. i had become a functional alcoholic who was drinking 1 gallon of vodka per day along with a quart of moonshine on the weekends. I was a misreable man staying numb to kill the pain and dispare because I was running from the Lord. my actions and decions landed me in jail faced with a 30 yr. prision sentence. But God! After a perion if incarceration God spared me. I have answerd God's call on my life. Preach all over decaring the good news and preaching repentance and hope. God used my wife and I to plant a church and we have seen 700 pluse souls go from death to life. Good is Good!

Alcohol is nothing but the devil in a jar!

Today we’re going to look at how to wise up about alcohol, and what we say will also apply to drugs as well. Today we’re going to discover three actions we need to take to wise up about alcohol.

1. The Consequences of Intoxication (Proverbs 23:29-30)

Let’s look at vv. 29-30 together. In these two verses we find the first action: We wise up about alcohol when we understand the consequences of intoxication.

We find six different consequences listed in v. 29, each consequence in the form of a rhetorical question.

One consequence is despair, and we find that in the question, "Who has woe?" The Hebrew word translated "woe" here is an expression of despair, a feeling of hopelessness and impending doom. Woe is that overwhelming feeling that there’s no way out, that life is crushing you and grinding you to bits, and that there’s nothing you can do about it. Woe is the suicide note of a troubled sixteen year old girl, it’s the despair of a middle aged man who gives up on life. In fact, it’s no coincidence that 40% of all suicide attempts each year in our nation are alcohol related. Despair is a natural consequence of drug and alcohol intoxication.

Another consequence from this verse is sorrow. The Hebrew word for "sorrow" in this second question is literally, "ouch." It’s an exclamation of pain. Sorrow is anguish and distress, a life filled with inner pain.

The question, "Who has strife?" focuses on the consequence of broken relationships. Strife is a general word that refers to arguments with other people. Again, it’s no coincidence that 80% of all domestic abuse in our nation is alcohol related. Strife also includes bar fights and brawls after sporting events. It includes hurtful words hastily spoken, angry actions, and so forth.

The question about having complaints points to problems as a consequence of intoxication. A complaint is a description of a problem or difficulty in one’s life. In other words, intoxication with alcohol will cause a person to have lots of problems and difficulties that they wouldn’t otherwise have. Whether it’s a suspended driver’s license because of a DUI or an unwanted pregnancy, whether it’s a ruined relationship or a lost job.

The needless bruises focuses on bodily injury as a consequence of intoxication. Drugs and alcohol affect a person’s coordination and equilibrium. But as your equilibrium and your coordination decline the more you drink, your judgment also declines. So you tend to do more dangerous things, yet physically you’re least prepared to survive those dangerous things. Whether it’s driving a car while intoxicated or jumping off a rock into a lake, intoxicated people take needless risks that often harm themselves. Again, it’s not a coincidence that 60% of all emergency room admissions are alcohol related.

Finally the bloodshot eyes refers to dulled senses. A person’s ability to think and see, to hear and decide is dulled and sedated when they’re drunk or wasted on drugs.

Now all of these questions describe the person who lingers over wine. The Hebrew word for "linger" in v. 30 describes a person who remains somewhere longer than they should. In other words, Proverbs is not saying people should never drink alcohol. Proverbs is concerned with people who drink too much, who linger over alcohol more than normal people.

The Bible assumes that in most cases people will drink some alcohol. In fact, virtually everyone drank alcohol for their daily fluid intake in the ancient world. This week I read a fascinating article from Scientific American about the history of alcohol use in the ancient world ("Alcohol in the Western World" SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN June 1998). The article was by Dr. Bert Valee, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. According to Dr. Valee, people have been using alcohol for thousands and thousands of years. Three thousand years before the birth of Jesus the Egyptians and Babylonians were manufacturing beer made from barely and wheat. The Greek physician Hippocrates used wine for medicinal purposes to treat a variety of chronic illnesses. In general, the more wealthy people drank wine, while the less wealthy people drank beer, because it was easier to make. I guess some things never change.