Bible Verses Addictions devotional

I think that I’ll stay!

You have dealt well with Your servant, O Lord, according to Your Word. Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust Your commands. Psalms 119:65-66

My Aunt Jean was my favorite of all my mother’s aunts. While my mother had no sisters, she had enough aunts of her own for me to claim. I used to love to visit Aunt Jean to meet the children she fostered.
During one of my visits, my Aunt Jean explained how the new boy was at first a little hesitant about staying. She said that the boy asked if she had any cookies. “Yes”, she said. The boy asked if she had soda pop. “Yes”, she said. The boy asked if she had ice cream, hot dogs, and a list of other items. “Yes”, was her reply to them all. My aunt was relieved by the boy’s announcement, “I think I’ll stay!”
David asked God to teach him knowledge and good judgment after He saw how well God had dealt with him. Don’t we need good judgment and knowledge to keep us from falling for addictions? Most certainly! You can trust God for the direction you need as David—and as much as my Aunt Jean’s foster child trusted her for potato chips, ice cream, candy, soda pop, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese …

“If a man has a great investment in a voyage, he aims at such an end as may be worth his investment. So when God above all things lays out His wisdom, power, mercy, goodness, and faithfulness, and sets at work all His counsels to be laid out upon such a business as to get man to attain to His last end, then, certainly, man’s end and happiness must be worth it all. And it must be a glorious thing God intends for the children of men, to make them happy, when the great counsels of God, and the ways of God’s wisdom and power, are so about this business of bringing man to happiness.” –The Evil of Evils, Jeremiah Burroughs

By the same token, it takes time to learn the things that God wants to teach you. You must be willing to stay long enough to receive the things that God has for you. While I do not condone individuals abstaining from addictions just for rewards, you must also recognize and enjoy the fruit of your labors. It is most important that you abstain in honor of His Majesty. And, it is equally important that you recognize that a life of sobriety is not always “cookies and candy.”