Psalm 78:26-49: They were not estranged from their lust

From Psalms

²⁶He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven:
      and by his power he brought in the south wind.
²⁷He rained flesh also upon them as dust,
      and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
²⁸And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,
      round about their habitations.
²⁹So they did eat, and were well filled:
      for he gave them their own desire;
³⁰They were not estranged from their lust.
      But while their meat was yet in their mouths,
³¹The wrath of God came upon them,
      and slew the fattest of them,
      and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

³²For all this they sinned still,
      and believed not for his wondrous works.
³³Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,
      and their years in trouble.
³⁴When he slew them, then they sought him:
      and they returned and enquired early after God.
³⁵And they remembered that God was their rock,
      and the high God their redeemer.
³⁶Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth,
      and they lied unto him with their tongues.
³⁷For their heart was not right with him,
      neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
³⁸But he, being full of compassion,
      forgave their iniquity,
      and destroyed them not:
yea, many a time turned he his anger away,
      and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹For he remembered that they were but flesh;
      a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

⁴⁰How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness,
      and grieve him in the desert!
⁴¹Yea, they turned back and tempted God,
      and limited the Holy One of Israel.
⁴²They remembered not his hand,
      nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
⁴³How he had wrought his signs in Egypt,
      and his wonders in the field of Zoan.
⁴⁴And had turned their rivers into blood;
      and their floods, that they could not drink.
⁴⁵He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them;
      and frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller,
      and their labour unto the locust.
⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail,
      and their sycomore trees with frost.
⁴⁸He gave up their cattle also to the hail,
      and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

⁴⁹He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,
      wrath, and indignation, and trouble,
      by sending evil angels among them.

Today I would like to focus on one verse of this very big psalm.  Verse 30, "But while their meat was yet in their mouths..." they still saught more...and they coveted.  "They were not estranged from their lust."

Sounds familiar to me.  As all good addicts in search of the next perfect buzz, always trying to take it up a notch from the last one.  We obsess about.  We scour the internet for it.  We spend money we don't have for it.  Never satisfied with what we have we are willing to throw away everything we have just to get the next buzz.  We never seem to be estranged from our lust.  This seems to be what makes us alcoholics and addicts.

That is until we hit bottom.  Our last buzz is usually the one that came at too high a price.  Often when I talk to other addicts and alcoholics the last time was too expensive and it wasn't even very good.  Expensive because we lose, or nearly lose our marriage; have alienated friends or family; lost our job or career.  It's not until then that we seek help.  But with the grace of our Higher Power...God, we find help.  And we find sobriety.

However, this lust doesn't go away in sobriety.  We just now have tools, resources, and new ways to manage the lust.  Having seen the lust we also know how to see the warning signs to avoid the temptations.  The presence of the lust is why we continue to go to meetings and share.  That's why we continue to work the steps.  That's why, in a few cases, we continue to pray the psalms everyday.

Thanks for letting me share.