“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 on God. It 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. 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.”
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. But 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. Christians must guard themselves from these dangers.
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” — Ephesians 5:18
— Kolton Ballance