After reading chapter 19 I have come to the conclusion that Lot and his family were not committed followers of the Lord.
Here is why I say that:
1. When Lot pleaded with the son in laws to come and Escape from the destruction that was going to come on Sodom and Gomorrah, they did not listen because they thought he was joking. I can't help but think that if Lot had been a consistent Godly leader in the household that the son in laws would have taken him much more seriously.
2. When the men of the city we're ready to break through Lot's house in order to get the two men / angels for homosexual relations, Lot was ready to sacrifice his daughters so that they would not harm the two men. That's foolish.
3. Also, the Angels told them to get out of the city and don't look back. But Lot's wife looked back. I can't help but think that she had a certain liking for the town she lived in that she had to look back.
4. Then when Lot and his two daughters were finally safe, they feared they would never find men again, so sleeping with their father was a viable option for them.
I can't help but think that if we surround ourselves with evil, that eventually we will become numb to the evil that surrounds us. To prevent this from happening, we must be ground strong in our faith and keep it fed and watered so that we don't lose focus of Truth and of righteousness. We must surround ourselves with Christian Fellowship and maintain a committed heart to the church and its teachings. If we're not standing on Solid Ground we will sink with the sin that's around us.
Genesis 19:4 tells us that Lot’s house was surrounded by everyone in the city and they were all acting wickedly so this confirms that there really weren’t any righteous ones in this place as we read about yesterday when Abraham wanted to make a deal with God. I came to the same conclusion that Pastor Blair has shared about Lot and his family. Lot’s foolish idea to offer his daughters and then their decision to have him become both a father and grandfather to the same children makes me scratch my head and ask why. Choosing to live close to sin would never be healthy for us or what God wants for us. I think in my own life about how much time I spend with God compared to time with the things of this world and it makes me want to spend more time with God. He wants us to be salt and light for Him in this world by trusting and obeying Him. How sad it would be to become the kind of salt that Lot’s wife became by not obeying God’s instructions and instead having a greater desire to hold on to the old ways of sin. We can be so glad that God rescues us from sin and makes us into His new creation as we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Today’s song is named after Luke 17:32. Here’s the link to Remember Lot’s Wife.
https://youtu.be/wdHcCUb6H5I
I have a slightly different take on Lot’s story. Peter calls him righteous in 2 Peter 2:7. We are righteous because of simple faith not because of anything we do. No one else in his family believed Lot when he warned them that God was going to destroy the city. His testimony was that weak. He clearly had been in Sodom so long that he had become accustomed to perversion – just like many today. God rescued Lot, his wife and two daughters (although his wife ended up making a bad choice and died). No one should follow Lot’s example because sin brings all kinds of pain and problems as well as empty-handedness eternally. Because Lot is called righteous later in the Bible at some point he must have made a profession of faith. We are all sinners and all sin is equally sin – my sin is not less than another’s. Just as God rescued Lot from Sodom, so He is able to rescue us from temptations and trials that we face in this world. Lot was not sinless, but he put his trust in God and was spared when Sodom was destroyed.
Whenever I read this chapter I always struggle with Lot being willing to sacrifice his daughters like that. Something I found interesting that I’m not sure I noticed before is that it says he lingered. Even after he knew what was coming he lingered, to the point of having to be physically removed from the city. I wonder how much of it is complacency and fear. We grow accustomed to the place we’re in and the situations around us. I know for me, I fear change. So I hold on to the things that I know even if they’re not the best for me or what God wants for me, and I linger in the familiar. The same verse that Jim quoted the other day applies here also. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and he will direct your paths. I doubt Lot was at a point where he trusted God for everything. He seemed to be living his life in fear. It’s an area I still need to work in, trusting God with every detail and acknowledging Him in every area.
Blair, Jim, Terri, and Jeanine thank you for your amazing responses. I have never read this chapter in the Bible and it was definitely a difficult one to swallow. I appreciate your heartfelt, knowledgeable responses, even including other scripture you can apply. I have never done a bible study or challenge and when challenging myself to stay in the Word, at this point I usually would have been out of the routine already. So I can’t thank all of you enough! I look forward to this time of being in the Word and reading your responses each and every day!
Sarah – I have never done an online Bible Study (only face to face studies) and am finding it an amazing experience too. Stay in the routine of reading the Word and you will be so blessed – in fact, I can see you already are being blessed. Reading the Bible in its entirety is the only way to understand the full story of God’s plan for redeeming us. For example, if we don’t read Genesis in entirety and chapter 15:15, 16 we won’t understand why God ordered Joshua to exterminate the Amorites four hundred years later. A wise, Godly person once told me this about reading my Bible: 1) read consistently, cover to cover, verse by verse and don’t worry about things you don’t understand. (God shows us different things at different times in our walk. Some things we may never understand in this lifetime) 2) read expectantly – come ready to hear what the Lord has to say to you 3) read conversationally – speak to God as you read. Talk it over with Him 4) read obediently – He graciously gives us one thing to do at a time. Obey.
God bless you in your walk with Him.
Pastor Blair, Jeanine, Sarah, Terri, and anyone else,
This is my first time doing an online Bible study like this too. I have really been enjoying it so far with this group. It has been such a great experience to read the Bible and also be able to see each other’s perspectives and insight! It’s helping me to have a better picture. I look forward to reading what each person has to share about the chapters on a daily basis as well as learning about the impact that it may have had in someone’s life. Thanks for reading, listening, sharing and for all of the encouragement too.
I knew that ApologetiX had written many parodies to go along with lessons from the Bible so I thought that I would try to see about sharing some of them when we started this and I plan to continue as we read more chapters along the way, but I never realized just how many songs that J and the band have actually done that fit right along with the readings! ApologetiX states as their mission, “Reach the lost and teach the rest!” I realize that people have their own musical tastes and preferences so everybody might not like every song and that’s ok, but my desire is that the parodies will still be a blessing for many people and help bring us closer to God and His Word.