Isaiah 30:2
Who walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked My advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt.
Egypt, to me, has always been a symbol of slavery and bondage. Whenever I read the name EGYPT in scripture, I equate it to the story in Exodus of how God delivered the Hebrews from the Egyptians. God did for the Hebrews what they could not do for themselves. Taking it one step further, Egypt has become a symbol of the ruling hand of addiction over a life that has succumbed to its rule. Addiction is a hard taskmaster that demands everything a life has to offer. IT will strip the individual of all rights and take away everything that person holds dear. Addiction will tell you when to get up...where you need to go...it will demand money that you do not possess and then send you into a moral spiral of deceit and manipulation so you can obtain the money.
Living in such a way is demeaning and strips away any shred of human decency a man or woman may possess. It cares not one wit about your feelings, except that addictions only desire is to see you numb to anything or anyone. It demands total allegiance and accepts nothing less. If you find this hard to believe, then tell me......when is the last time you saw a casual addict? One who uses occasionally. One who would put off using so they could spend quality time with family and friends. One who would go to a family outing even if there wasn't anything to drink or take there at the outing. Such a concept as "casual" addict doesn't exist. Addiction is a taskmaster that demands everything. Total allegiance.....total love (as twisted as that love becomes) and, in the end, your very life.
To me, the verses from Isaiah 3 represent a warning from God about going back to the old lifestyle. I will not sit here and try to reason the "Why" of people who turn back to addiction. I will only say that even when breaking free from addiction, sometimes facing life sober for the first time is a daunting task. Such is the reason we desperately need community. We need to attach ourselves to, and become a part of a group of people who have gone through the same experiences we have. People who have found the value of following Jesus, the real Higher Power, into this new way of living. We draw strength from being connected. We have access to hear God for ourselves, and when we do receive a word, we can look to our fellow traveler's to help us discern what we have heard.
We now draw our strength from God and those around us. We truly are learning a new way to live.
So we learn to trust.......
Not in ourselves, but in Jesus.
We learn that He is the only source of real life and instruction.
Without Him....
Without the Holy Spirit at work in us....
Those twelve steps are merely words that we will wrangle with and try to accomplish their instruction in our own strength.
But with Jesus....
Those twelve steps become power tools to rebuild a life that has been destroyed.
Ask yourself.
"Who am I looking to in order to survive today?"
Is it Jesus?
Or is it that old lifestyle and taskmaster that I use to serve when I lived in Egypt (addiction)?
As Bob Dylan so aptly put it........
"You're Gonna Have To Serve Somebody"
God on you....
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