LK 5:39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, `The old is better.' "

For many of us as addicted people we have developed a root of fear in our hearts early in life because of unhealed trauma and after that we tend to gravitate toward only what is familiar because we think that the familiar is more controllable, and thus more of an easy environment to protect ourselves in. The problem with this belief is that we resist letting necessary changes and outside help in that we need in order to recover and we can stay stuck in a rut of addiction simply because it is more familiar to us.

Addiction in itself is a form of false protection. We use pleasure to protect ourselves from pain, but addiction actually generates more pain than it relieves, and it makes us less capable of managing our lives and protecting ourselves. When we fully allow God to step in and help us to get free from addiction it will also mean allowing Him to be in control of protecting us. This is likely going to mean a lot of very different changes in our life since the way that we have been doing things has obviously not been working.

The familiar may seem more secure, but it can actually cheat us out of many very necessary changes that God wants and needs to make in our life in order to improve things, and to also set us free from addiction. We must become brave enough to allow God to make any changes necessary in order for us recover. God will indeed protect us from anything that He knows that we actually need to be protected from, but most change comes through the unfamiliar. Trust that God will protect you through change.

2TH 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.