Lot
Today I’ve been thinking a about the story of Lot. We have a lot of “Christians” in this world who claim to be Christians but want to have no standards, no restrictions of any kind. I’ve come to the conclusion that standards and restrictions are part of God’s plan and He gives them to us for our protection. For example, take the issue of drinking. Many “Christians” claim that there is a Biblical basis in favor of drinking. After all, say they, Jesus drank wine; Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine to help his stomach; etc. But on the other hand, Solomon, the wisest man says that “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.” Proverbs 20:1; “Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly.” Proverbs 23:31; etc.
Two things to understand is that the “wine” that Jesus and the disciples drank and that the Bible speaks of as a blessing was “new wine,” unfermented grape juice; and that Paul was counseling Timothy to drink a little for medicinal reasons, not social drinking. It has long been understood that Christians avoid drinking alcohol, and yet that is a “standard” that many people find obsolete and
Anyway, while I was pondering both points of view, I was reminded that the Bible uses stories to make a point and the story of Lot (also Noah, David, Herod, Artaxerxes, etc) are there to show us why God says “Don’t touch, don’t drink, don’t go,” etc. They are there for our admonition and as a warning for us to stay away from harmful things.
So, today’s story of grace is the story of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. You can read about him in Genesis 11-13 and 19.
Lot evidently was a man of faith because he left Ur of the Chaldees with his uncle Abraham and set out to the Promised Land of Canaan. He had nothing but faith to assure him that there would be a home for him there. But he packed up his family and followed along with Abraham. For several years they traveled and lived together, but finally their flocks and herds became too great to support both of them together so Abraham offered Lot the first choice of where to live.
And the Bible says: “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere--{this was} before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah--like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.” Genesis 13:10-12.
Lot made several mistakes that day. He let greed and the desire for an easy, comfortable life lure him into the most wicked section of Canaan, the valley of Sodom and Gomorrah. It says it was like the garden of the Lord, in other words, like the Garden of Eden. It must have been extremely lovely and exciting. People came from all over to trade in these cities. Everything a person could want was right there. Entertainment, shopping, schools, jobs, etc. So Lot chose to move his family to the valley.
His second mistake was in separating himself from Abraham. It is very dangerous to try to get close to the world and separate from those of the faith. Without that encouragement it is much harder to be a Christian. And the Bible says Lot “moved his tents as far as Sodom.” Maybe he convinced himself that he would be a missionary to the valley people. But instead of converting them, he soon was living in the midst of them.
The kings of the valley decided that they would no longer pay tribute to their overlords, so they rebelled and the overlords came and overthrew the cities, including Sodom. They took everyone in the cities captive and carried off all of their belongings. When Abraham heard what had happened to his family he went after them and defeated the overlords and returned all the people and their possessions. What a marvelous story of God’s grace toward us. Even when we make wrong choices and turn our back on Him, He still loves us enough to go after us and fight for us. He sets us free from that enemy, Satan, who wants to keep us enslaved to him. God wants us to be free to choose to love Him and serve Him because we love Him. Satan hates us and wants to keep us enslaved by whatever means he can.
But we are slow to learn our lessons. Just as Lot went back to Sodom to live, so we frequently put ourselves right back in the exact situation that led to our captivity in the first place. Every day I’m awed by God’s love that He still keeps reaching out to such ungrateful, stupid creatures as we are. You’d think that He’d get really tired of constantly trying to rescue us and of us constantly putting ourselves in danger, but He says that “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.” Isaiah 59:1. I’m so grateful that He is always listening for me to cry “Help” and He is always ready and willing to answer. What an amazing God we have!
More time passes and Sodom and Gomorrah get more and more wicked, and still Lot stays there. He probably got used to what happened and never even noticed anymore. His daughters married men from the city and so more and more he was tied to the place. Just as the longer we stay in sin the harder it is to get out.
Finally the cities of the valley had become so wicked that God could no longer allow them to continue to exist. Jesus Himself came down, with two angels, to investigate the situation. This tells us not that God doesn’t know everything that happens, but that He always, personally performs an investigation before He acts. Another place we see this is in the story of the Tower of Babel when God came down to see what they were doing. Again, I love this aspect of God. What compassion He has on His creatures, to come down and personally conduct an investigation!
Jesus told Abraham that He had come to investigate the wickedness of the city and that it was going to be destroyed. Abraham pleaded with Him to save the cities if there were (finally) ten righteous people in them. He probably thought that was the least there could be because Lot and his wife still had two daughters at home and surely some of his other children would still be faithful; and after all, Lot had been in Sodom for some time and maybe there were people who had been converted because of his witness. But as we know, there weren’t ten righteous in the city. Only four made it out. Again, that tells me that it is much easier to be conformed to the world than to get the world to conform to faith. It is easier to pull someone down than to pull someone up. God told us “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14. And yet, we humans think that we know better than God. But just like Lot, unbelievers have a much bigger influence on us than we do on them.
The angels told Lot to leave, but he was very hesitant. His children wouldn’t leave and he just didn’t want to leave all he had acquired. Finally the angels grabbed hold of the four of them and took them out of the city with the warning to not look back. But Lot’s wife looked back. Her heart was still in the city with her children and her possessions, and she became a pillar of salt. I wonder how many of us lose our families and our lives because we still cling to the old life even after we’ve been taken out of it. We still look back with longing for the “good old days.” Which were actually the “bad old days” that lead to death. Again, we are stupid creatures!
Lot and his two daughters escaped to the mountains. They must have lived there for a while because the daughters decided that they’d never have a chance to marry, so they came up with a scheme. Get Dad drunk and have children with him. Evidently it wasn’t hard to get Lot drunk and so the deed was done. He impregnated both of his daughters and became the father of Ammon and Moab, both of whom became nations that would later be enemies of Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites.
What a sad way for a man of faith to end up. Drunk and committing a heinous sin against God and against his family! And yet, God still had mercy on Lot. He allowed his sons to become great nations that played a part in Biblical history for hundreds of years. And yet, 2 Peter 2:7 calls Lot “righteous” even after all that. What a gracious, long-suffering God we serve.
Lot put himself in harm’s way, over and over. He ended his story in the Old Testament drunk, again putting himself in danger of sinning. And yet God still forgave him and called him “righteous” after all that. But wouldn’t his life have been much happier had he been careful to do what we would consider “standards” to help him avoid temptation? Had he not pitched his tent toward Sodom he would not have lost his wife, his home, his possessions, and his children. Had he not indulged in alcohol he would not have been remembered for his incestuous relationship with his daughters.
Such little things to be so dangerous! And yet I hear “Christians” all the time whine that they should be able to drink “a little wine;” they should be able to go where they want, eat what they want, watch what they want, marry whom they want, do what they want. They seem to resent the fact that God has standards and that He has articulated these standards to protect us and keep us from having to go thru many things that we could avoid if we followed His commands.
Just keep holding on to God because He is faithful and He will give you the strength and courage to keep going. His grace is always available for us to draw on! Praise the Lord for that, because without His help we are in a hopeless condition, aren’t we?
Labels: Lot grace abraham
# posted by Judy Mackie @ 4:58 PM
