Proverbs 23:29-30
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.”
The big message here: Beware the influence of lust and lies. Not everything that feels good is good for you, and not everything that is good for you feels good.
In the previous verses, Proverbs warns us to stay away from attractive lies, seductive situations, and anything that would intoxicate you and impair your judgment. This passage gets specific, and goes on a multiple verse “rant” against the foolishness of indulging your passions.
Wine is a metaphor for anything that would attract you, intoxicate you, impair your judgment, and cause you to do foolish things that damage you and others.
“Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.” (Proverbs 23:31-33)
Wine is a metaphor for damaging habits that first attract you, then addict you, and finally destroy you. That is the nature of lust and lies. Those are the things in the world that are pleasurable in the beginning, but are also intoxicating … that is, they impair your judgment and distort your decision-making.
“You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.” (Proverbs 23:34-35)
Under the influence of lust and lies, you have a distorted view of the world around you. Even worse, you have a distorted view of your own life. You become oblivious to the self-harm you are doing. You become numb to the damage you are doing to yourself, and numb to the damage the addiction is doing to you. It is a very dangerous place to be spiritually and psychologically.
This is precisely why Proverbs repeatedly warns against lust and lies. It is why you must be vigilant to guard yourself against anything that would attract you, addict you, and seek to destroy you.
Remember: Not everything that feels good is good for you, and not everything that is good for you feels good.
