Success Insanity
“Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD, intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are going mad.” Jeremiah 51:7
Success Insanity
Mad – Insanity isn’t always what you think. The choice of the word halal to describe the state of nations drunk on Babylon should give us an insight into the true nature of insanity. Halal is the word for praise (see May 9 and 10). It’s not the word we might have expected here. But as soon as we see it, we realize that madness is simply praise for something other than God. The nations are insane because they praise the images of Babylon without acknowledging the Provider and Power behind Babylon.
Halal tells us that whenever we give our honor, praise and glory to anything or anyone other than God we are on the road to insanity. We are drunken fools. We have lost out minds. Halal belongs to God alone.
Now we see why God’s divine conspiracy uses the images of Babylon to bring the rest of the world into drunken insanity. God is letting lust and pride run their course. Those who praise power, wealth, success and fame are going mad. They are detached from reality. They no longer see the world that way it really is. Judgment is coming but the drunken revelers do not see the signs.
Berkouwer said that sin is the most irrational and insane thing a man can ever do. It is the deliberate decision to destroy life. If the wages of sin is death, why would any sane person ever choose it? But we do, don’t we. Because we are drunk on the fermentation of fame, the taste of power, the intoxication of wealth and the smell of success. And God lets us keep drinking until we throw up from the toxins we take in. Then He comes to us while we lie in the gutter and says, “Do you want to be whole?” That’s Jesus’ voice. “Do you want to be well (whole) now? Are you done with this insanity? Are you ready to look at life as it really is? Have you given up your praise of Babylon?”
Whenever you see fellow travelers gulping down the wine of Babylon, offer a prayer for them to the Lord of hosts. And thank God that you are not sharing those wines with them. The ones labeled Pride, Arrogance, Lust, Power, Importance, Jealousy, Envy, Covetousness and Sloth. You aren’t tasting any of those, are you?
