Abraham and Lot.
“With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying ‘Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished. When Lot hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.” Genesis 19:15-16
What stands out to me are two things: Lot hesitated, and the LORD was merciful to them.
Sodom was their home and home is hard to leave (especially for a woman), no matter how bad it is.
God in heaven saw how bad it was in Sodom where Lot and his family lived. I wonder how much contact Abraham had with his nephew Lot, and how often Lot had talked to his uncle about the evil in Sodom. Somehow I don’t think that Abraham was ignorant of Lot’s adversities living there because of how the LORD (one of the 3 men) came first to Abraham’s place and how the LORD stayed with Abraham while He sent His two angels (two men) on to Sodom to do what they came down to do. I love that about our LORD; that He cares about the families of His faithful servants; He watches out for those the children they love and pray for. The LORD showed Abraham honor by staying with Abraham in conversation about it, and reassuring Abraham that his nephew and family would be taken out before the city was destroyed by fire.
It is stated that Lot was righteous, not because he was a perfect man without sin, but because of who he trusted in and obeyed: the God of Abraham. “Abraham obeyed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” We are called “the righteous of God” when we trust in God’s Son – Jesus Christ for what He did on the cross for us with His own body and blood, and keep our hearts right with Him in what He instructs us to do, both when we sin against each other, and in doing what He gives us to do for Him. When we sin against each other – first we need to acknowledge it and confess it to God, and then make restitution with whom we have sinned against.
My sin only affects people, not God. God can not be influenced or changed by our wicked ways and thoughts. (Job 35:5-8) Father God watches how His children treat each other. He’s delighted and honored when we love one another and have a genuine interest in the welfare of others. He’s grieved and even angered when we don’t. His painful discipline shows up then, and it comes in all sorts of ways to make us more like His Son Jesus. This is for our good future when our Father painfully disciplines us.
I have to admit that with the way our culture in America seems to be headed – we need to be prepared for more and more hostility and opposition to our faith in Jesus Christ. And, unlike Lot, we should not hesitate when given an instruction from the LORD. And, unlike Lot’s wife who preferred to stay in Sodom her home and was left behind turned into a pillar of salt, we better be quick to obey the LORD.
We are to be pillars in society as we stand strong representing God’s way of life that blesses everyone. We are to be like salt in the land preserving the good and the true; being tasteful about the way we present the Gospel to people. We can become too salty, being overly emotional so that we scare people away, or overly passionate so that we can’t relate with people.