Daily Reading // Isaiah 51:17-23
READY // SILENCIO
Take a moment to quiet your mind and prepare your heart for your time with the Lord.
READ // LECTIO
Read the passage above up to three times aloud. Allow yourself to feel the words as they are read.
REFLECT // MEDITATIO
Now direct your focus on the words, phrases concepts or sentences that got your attention. What is God speaking to you today through His word?
Isaiah 51:21 Therefore please hear this, you afflicted, And drunk but not with wine.
“Drunk but not with wine.”
The idea here is that someone can be drunk, but not with wine or any other intoxicating drink. What happens when you are drunk? Your judgement and senses are off. They can’t be trusted. Your motor skills are affected. You can get overly emotional about the smallest of things. You are not fully ‘you’ when you are drunk. You think and act and speak in ways uncharacteristic for you. And you can’t help it. You don’t have control.
Are there other things other than alcohol with a similar effect? Some emotions have similar reactions. This passage speaks a lot about one of them: fury.
In a furious state, judgement is impaired. Emotions are off. Even motor skills can be affected. A person might say, do or feel things that are very uncharacteristic. In a state of fury, a person loses control. A person drunk with fury is every bit unpredictable as someone who is drunk but even more dangerous.
Culturally, we are dealing with a type of societal fury. People are drunk with anger. They are unpredictable, sometimes irrational and highly emotional. There are home remedies and cures for drunkenness. The best of which is sleeping it off. Unfortunately, there is no simple fix for fury.
I always need to ask myself: Am I responding out of anger? Have I lost control of my emotions? Do not be drunk with fury.
RESPOND // ORATIO
Pray in response to what the Lord has spoken to you.
Jesus, We need Your help. Replace fury with calm, offense with grace, hurt with healing and anxiety for perfect peace. Amen.
Tomorrow’s reading -> Isaiah 52:1-15
Thanks for your comments Martin. A good reminder to stay under control.
Great analogy by Isaiah, that we can be drunk, or out of control, by our own emotions. Emotions like anger, fear,jealousy, envy. How often do I find myself "drunk"? More often than I care to admit. Good observation, that this kind of drunk is more dangerous. I can't just sleep it off. I have to work it off, pray it off, practice it off. I think a state of anger is the furthest one can possibly be from God. Not a good place to dwell.
Thank you Jim and Isaiah.