My name is Brad and I'm still an alcoholic and addict. Part of my recovery is a Fourth Step inventory. The AA step reads, "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." It's often easier and less painful to take the inventory of others rather than my own, especially if pride tops the character defect list as in my case.
In the Book of Mormon, Jacob gives another excellent priestly speech addressing the issue of pride. My favorite part comes as he said, "Ye were proud in your hearts, of the things which God hath given you" (Jacob 2: 20). But Jacob being the masterful teacher he is, cannot leave it at that. And he would be fain glad if he could get away with the mere inventory and not have to address the addictive behaviors caused by the "stinking thinking."
The Lord is able to discern with "one glance of His eye" that these people "are beginning to labor in sin" (Jacob 2: 5, 15). Yes, the practice of addiction takes a lot of work, even sheer labor. I remember how hard it was to keep track of all my lies, and make yesterday's lies consistent with today's. And that day-to-day planning and keeping track of when they would close the liquor store, so I could avoid being left high and dry.
Jacob uses a prime example of two Old Testament figures his people would be familiar with. He speaks of David and Solomon. Now again, I'm supposed to be taking my own inventory and not theirs, but come on now, seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines is a little excessive. But in case one has trouble calculating the cost of addiction, the Lord summarizes in these terms: "And his wives turned away his heart" (1 Kings 11: 3). "For where your treasure is (or your drug of choice), there will your heart be also" (3 Nephi 13: 21).
And there is another cost. What about the codependent family members who suffer along with the addict? One of my unsung heroes of the Old Testament is a poor, suffering, codependent wife of David, a sister named Abigail, who perhaps lost two husbands to addiction. Now I'm really violating the Fourth Step!
Abigail is another type of Christ, who serves as a mediator of the covenant. She had a husband, Nabal, whose name means "fool." Surely all of us as addicts have done foolish things. David is in the wilderness with a group of men, and is in the vicinity of Nabal, who is sheering sheep. David sends messengers out to salute him, perhaps seeking help with food, shelter, and provisions. But instead of Nabal welcoming David as a guest, he "railed" on him (1 Samuel 25: 14).
Abigail, upon seeing this is not in the best interest of her husband, takes out food and provisions to meet David. She delivers "two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses" (verse 18).
David, upon being rebuffed, has his sword drawn, symbolic of God's justice, as Abigail intervenes to make peace as an act of mercy. David expresses his gratitude to her and praises God who sent Abigail to keep him from shedding blood. Abigail becomes a mediator of the covenant. David remarks that Nabal wouldn't have a man left to fight for him had she not intervened. Part of this dialog becomes quite graphic, and I don't want anything that borders on profanity in my blog, so I'll let you read verse 22 on your own.
But this story has a sad ending. Abigail's kindness and mercy cannot save her husband who is partying with his friends. Nabal was "very drunken" and "when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, . . . his heart died within him, and he became as a stone" (1 Samuel 25: 37). The dead and hardened heart is a hallmark symptom of addiction.
After about ten days, Nabal dies, and David marries Abigail, who will now have to watch another husband endure perhaps another addiction involving sexual immorality. Every time I read about David I shed a tear or two, because I know I am approaching 2 Samuel 11 where a prophet king has a fall. I don't know if David was an addict either, but his story has implications for those of us who are.
We addicts have to be vigilant and ready to go to battle against the enemy every day. But at the time when kings go out to battle, David sent the hosts of Israel and tarried behind at Jerusalem. After the lustful glances from the king's roof, the inquiries regarding Bathsheba, the adulterous affair, and after the cover up attempts fail, David plots to kill Uriah, another of my unsung heroes in scripture, who carries his own death sentence to the battle front.
The pre-Bathsheba David had a faith-filled, pliable heart, and trusted the Lord to deliver him as he went up against the giant Goliath with only a shepherd's staff, in likeness of the true Shepherd, and five smooth stones, in likeness of the Stone of Israel, and went out with these and a sling and a shepherd's bag to conquer the enemy (see Genesis 49: 24; 1 Samuel 17: 40).
The post-Bathsheba David had to number the hosts of Israel from Dan to Beersheba to see if he had enough troops to beat the enemy (see 2 Samuel 24: 2).
Jacob declares, "Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds" (Jacob 2: 35).
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