#shorts Part 5 — The Addiction Desert
The journey to freedom is long, painful, and terrifying, but God is with us through it all
The desert is where battle with attachment takes place. The saga of the desert tells of a journey out of slavery, through the desert, toward the garden that is home.
Hello Readers, hope all’s well. Time for another #shorts post.
Today’s tidbit comes from the book Addiction & Grace by Gerald May. I’ve mentioned this book before and quoted from it in my #shorts series. It’s an excellent book about the Spiritual side of addiction, with some very insightful ideas about the Spiritual significance of all aspects of addiction. I do plan to write a full review of the book for The Christian Book Corner when I get a chance. But for at least this month and probably into next month as well, I’m doing these #shorts posts.
Today’s insight from the book compares the journey of the Israelites through the desert to the process of defeating an addiction.
The Desert Journey and its Spiritual Meaning
I’m going to let Gerald May speak for himself through this quote. All I’m going to say first is that it’s a very smart metaphor, this comparison between the desert journey and the battle with addiction. The battle with addiction is long, painful, lonely, exhausting, depressing, and sometimes deadly. All these words also applied to Israel as they followed God through the desert for 40 years. This desert journey is one where it often seems like there is no Hope, and death in the desert is guaranteed.
But let’s never forget that on the other side of that desert journey is the Promised Land God has for us. In this case, freedom from addiction!!
But I said I would let May speak for himself, so let me get out of the way. Think this over:
The most powerful scriptural metaphor for our journey is the desert sojourn of the Hebrews. God led the people of Israel out of slavery toward the promised land, but their journey took them through great deprivations. In the desert they expressed all the characteristics of addiction and of the addicted personality to a degree that was as agonizing for God and as frustrating…
