The Adultery of Addiction

There is a very interesting story in the Bible in the book of Hosea. Hosea was a prophet and God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. God was going to use Hosea as a living demonstration of His own love and patience for a nation that continually turned their back on Him. Israel was God’s chosen people – his bride. Yet the people of Israel were cheating on God by constantly returning to the pleasures of the world.

Hosea not only had to marry a prostitute named Gomer – but he would be called to literally buy her back when she cheated on him yet again.

“The Lord said to (Hosea), ‘Go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.’ So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a half of barley. Then I told her, ‘You are to live with me many days, you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you.’” (Hosea 3:1-3)

Can you imagine your wife cheating on you (multiple times) and not only do you not kick her to the curb, but you literally buy her back with precious metals and grain?

The price that Hosea paid is known as the redemptive price. The price he paid to ‘redeem’ his wife. Jesus paid a redemptive price to buy us (his bride) back from our sins. He died an agonizing death on the cross to buy back his cheating wife! 

I have a daughter who struggles with drug addiction. She is 31 years old and has lived 18 of those years in addiction. She is still a wonderful person. This week she helped her younger sister with math homework from her prison cell.

We love her. We pursue her. My husband and I have had to ‘buy her back’ in so many ways over the years. It’s painful when she walks away from our love to return to drugs.

It’s so easy to judge a drug addict as morally weak, someone without self-control, selfish.

But everything on this earth can be turned into an idol, an addiction, if it is more powerful than our love for God.

Alcohol, tobacco, drugs, caffeine, food, gambling, shopping, sex, pornography, the internet.

I cannot speak for all addictions – but I want to explain the brain chemistry of opioid addiction.

Dopamine is a messenger to the brain telling it, “I feel good! No pain! Life is hearts and flowers!”  Dopamine sends those messages along to the brain’s mailbox. If the mailbox is full of enough dopamine, another messenger named GABA says, “Return to sender. Mailbox is full.”   Dopamine is reabsorbed.

Opioids are an off-switch for an off-switch. Opioids temporarily trick GABA into shutting up and not sending the message to dopamine that the mailbox is full. In turn, the mailbox overflows with dopamine, flooding it with pleasure.

It should be as simple as stopping opioids to put the brain back to normal, right?  Sadly, no. GABA is a clever messenger. He was adapting. Instead of just shutting up and taking a back seat – GABA started to ramp up his messenger service. When opioids are taken away, now the messages are so backed up in the mailbox, that they all tell dopamine to GO AWAY.

Withdrawal from opioids then tells the mailbox in the brain, “I DON’T FEEL GOOD AT ALL!”  Without dopamine, the brain feels utter physical pain, misery and irritability.

This is why it is so difficult to leave opioids once the brain is addicted. Because the brain will tell the body, “I’m literally dying. Please save me by giving it back.”

Watching my daughter struggle with her addiction to opioids and having to “buy her back” over and over has convinced me of God’s incredible love for His people.  Loving her has been the most exquisitely painful thing that God has ever asked of me. Much like Hosea loving Gomer.

Each and every one of us is like Gomer. We all cheat on God in one way or another.  We all struggle to walk away from the pleasurable indulgences of this world. But God sent His son Jesus to buy you back. Jesus paid your redemption price with His life.

Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

I will not offer saccharine platitudes and tell you that you will be immediately released from your addictions if you accept Jesus, but I can promise you that you will have a faithful husband who will not leave you or forsake you. You will have rest from your burdens. He loves you, with a love that pursues you to the ends of the earth. Calling on the name of Jesus promises you an eternity in heaven, where there are no more tears, pain, or addiction.

“ ‘I will visit her on the days…when she went after her lovers, and forgot me,’ says the LORD. ‘But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there.’  Hosea 2:13-14

Jesus knows you have had other lovers, but He wants to win you back again, speak to you tenderly again. Will you let him?

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28

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