There was a time in Jewish history, it must have been a really long time ago, when the drug of choice for most people was idolatry... Go figure. The cocaine of idolatry was Baal. The high society would secretly worship Baal.
The Jewish Prophet at the time happened to be Elijah. Here is a quote from his admonishment: "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the L-rd be G‑d, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." For us English speakers: Take a side, G‑d or Baal.
The obvious question is, what kind of a choice is this coming from Elijah? He's giving the Jewish people two apparently equal choices, G‑d or Baal. Shouldn't he just suggest to the people to quit Baal and embrace G‑d?
The lesson to us is that sometimes blurring the line is worse than crossing it. If you know where the line is and where you stand then even if you are on the wrong side of it, at least you have a chance of crossing back. But if you blur the line to a point that you can really believe that you can use your drug and be in recovery at the same time, then your chances of getting back on your feet are slim.
What Elijah asked the Jewish people to do is to admit they were powerless over their addiction, that their lives have become unmanageable. That's step one for us.
Then we can ask G‑d to help us cross back to the right side of the line. That's step two: G‑d can restore us to sanity.
