Genesis chapter 19

Here we have Lot who has now moved out of his tent and is living in a house in the city, amidst all the wickedness that was Sodom. I always think of Sodom as being something like Las Vegas, or at least the Las Vegas I see on crime dramas, CSI and the like, with the gambling, murder and prostitution. Never having been there, I know I could be completely mistaken in this, and I know there are many places here in the UK where there is gambling, murder and prostitution, so please excuse my over active imagination here. Either way, Lot chose a life in the city instead of live in the country.

The men wanted to have a homosexual relationship wit the men Lot had taken in. They had obviously seen the men in the market place and had followed them to Lot's house. It sounds to me like a large crowd of men, all surrounding Lot's house yelling and shouting for Lot to give them the men. Imagine how terrifying it must have been for those inside the house. Then just imagine the reaction of Lot's daughters when their father offered them to the crowd instead of the men? Basically telling the crowd they couldn't have the men but they could rape his daughters instead.

I know hospitality was a big thing in the East, and it was highly prized and honoured, yet to me, this seems extreme to say the least. I mean, I know guests were to be looked after even at the risk of your own life, but here, he was offering his daughters up. I find this unbelievable. I couldn't do that to my daughter yet Lot was prepared to do just that, valuing his duties as a host more than his responsibility to his family.

Bu then am I any better when I work and don't spend time with my family? When I value the jobs I have to do more than being with the family? When I work all weekend rather than go out with the children? I know I often have deadlines and need to work to meet these, yet there are times when I put work first when there is no need…..

The two men drag Lot into the house and lock the door, telling him they are messengers from God and they are about to destroy the city. They tell Lot to get all his family out of the city as otherwise they will be destroyed along with everyone else. Lot rushes round to see his daughters' fiancés, but they just laugh at Lot and don't believe him. So Lot, his wife and two daughters are taken out of the city by the two men.

Yet Lot's wife can't resist turning back, taking a last look at Sodom. Maybe she slowed down to see what was happening, maybe she was regretting leaving her home, all the amenities and luxuries of the city, whatever the reason, she ended up turning into a pillar of salt.

You know, we can spend our lives looking back. Remembering all the mistakes we made, the times we said something we shouldn't have said, did something we shouldn't have done, behaved really badly, hurting others. Then there are all the things we should have done, or said, yet we didn't. Life is full of things we'd rather not remember, those deep, dark, horrible secrets that we would rather never remember. IF we spend our loves thinking back on all of these, remembering times past, things we want to relive or forget completely, how will we enjoy what we have now? How will we enjoy the day God has given us today if we are living our lives in that day 20 years ago, or what happened yesterday, or last year? There are memories and then there is living in the past so that we don't live in today. My husband, for instance, spends his whole life recalling those things he did that he shouldn't have, the times he didn't do or say certain things. His whole life is one of regret and he always assumes people are laughing at him, making comments about him and it is even extending to us in the family now. He is looking back and turning into a pillar of salt because he is too engrossed in what has gone before to be able to appreciate what he has now.

Even knowing there is the imminent destruction of the city, Lot pleads with the men to allow him to live in a small town near Sodom. He is still reluctant to trust in God for all his needs and wants to be with other people, where there are the shops, the markets, the entertainment.

Luke 17:26-30 The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah— everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away. It was the same in the time of Lot—the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual right up to the day Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burned everything to a crisp. That's how it will be—sudden, total—when the Son of Man is revealed. (The Message)

Destruction came suddenly for Sodom, just as the return of Jesus will be sudden. Are you ready? Is Jesus your Lord and Saviour or will you be one of the ones who bow their knees and head yet their hearts belong to satan? All through the bible we read of God's love how forgiving He is, how merciful, how faithful. Don't leave it until it is too late to turn to Jesus. Accept Him now. Don't wait until you are on your deathbed, or that bus runs you over. You may not have time then to do anything about it.

Then at the end of this chapter, we again have someone taking matters into their own hands rather than wait for God's timing. This time it is the daughters of Lot who decide to get their father drunk so they can sleep with him and het pregnant, rather than wait for a suitable man to come along (or die old maids). The eldest had a son and named him Moab, which means "from father" and the youngest also had a son and called him Ben-Ammi, which means "son of my father's people". The one became the father of the Moabites, the other the father of the Ammonites, both tribes being enemies of the Israelites.

Lot here is held up as a carnal believer, loving the things of this world even knowing what he should and shouldn't do. He had the example of his uncle Abraham, yet he chose to live near Sodom and then moved right into the city. He thought more of other people and what they would think of him when he offered his daughters to the crowd of men at his door. His daughters had to make him drunk so he would sleep with them, and he couldn't even remember doing it. You have to wonder what explanation they gave him for being pregnant in the first place! He let the world corrupt his morals, and took paths that led him away from God, despite being a believer. We are told in 2 Peter 2 that Lot was a righteous man:

2 Peter 2:6-9  if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) – if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. (NIV)

Yet we can clearly see here how many times he was led astray by the world. It is easy to sit here and criticise Lot for doing these things. But how many times do we do similar things? I'm not saying we get drunk and sleep with our sons and daughters, but we do things like having too much to drink, gossiping about others, being full of pride and thinking we are better than others, being jealous of achievements or belongings others have that we don't, telling that little white lie to save hurting someone's feelings or to save our own. Each time we do what those on the world would do, when we let the world take us away from God and do or say the things that grieve Him, then we are doing exactly the same as Lot.

Now that is a sobering thought.