A LOT TO THINK ABOUT

 "And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)"  (2 Peter 2:7-8)

This month marks forty-four years that I've been a "born again Christian".  I was taught from my earliest days as a child of God that it was important for me to read my Bible every day.  I remember my brother Eddie asking me after I'd been "saved" for about five years, "Aren't you done reading that Bible yet?!"  To Eddie, the Bible was a book that you should be able to read and master after a year or so.  He couldn't fathom people reading the Bible over and over again for decades and still learning and "seeing" new things in it.  I certainly understand Eddie's question, but after forty-four years, I'm still learning new things from the Bible;  even from some very familiar chapters and passages. 

This morning, for my "personal devotional reading" I read Genesis chapter nineteen.  This is the chapter which tells the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  I've read it many times, but I noticed some "new stuff" in it today and I found myself really meditating about the life and story of Lot this morning- and considering some matters I've just never thought about before!

If you carefully check out the whole story from the previous chapters of the Book of Genesis, Lot was Abraham's nephew.  Lot was part of a large group of family and servants (as well as herds and herds of various animals), who went out with Abraham to travel to the land of Canaan after God specifically directed Abraham to make this move.  They lived as nomads in the land, literally living in tents, although Abraham was quite wealthy and Lot wasn't exactly "hurting financially" either!  At one point, the servants of Abraham and the servants of Lot were just not getting along.  It was a very uncomfortable situation.  Abraham told Lot it was better for them to separate than for their servants to hate each other and be fighting with each other.  Abraham gave Lot the choice of whatever part of the land of Canaan he wanted.  The "plain" near Sodom was lush and fertile.  Lot chose to move there.  Abraham was left to take an area which was more hilly and arid and (frankly) just not so great, but his attitude was that it was just fine.  In spite of that, God continued to richly bless Abraham!

When Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed many years later, Lot and his family are living in a house in the city of Sodom!  Now, remember the "deal" was that they were nomads.  They were wealthy owners of many herds, but they were nomads.  They lived in the country.  They lived in tents.  They trusted God.  That was the deal.  It's often been preached that Lot did a bad thing by choosing the lush plain near Sodom.  Yet, consider this:  If he had not chosen it, Abraham would have moved there!  But guess what:  I don't believe Abraham would ever have been living in a house in the city of Sodom!  That's where Lot went wrong somehow!   At one point long before this, the city of Sodom is attacked and pillaged.  Lot's family and belongings are hauled away to Timbuktu!  Well, not literally to Timbuktu, but they were hauled far away!  When Abraham hears about it, he takes a bunch of his men, takes on the kings and armies who attacked Sodom, "does a number" on them, and gets back the captives and belongings that were stolen.  (For you serious Book of Hebrews scholars, this is when Abraham pays tithes to Melchizadek; and for you fans of worship leader Lindell Cooley, this is when he "went to the enemy's camp and took back what he stole from me".)  As I pondered this today, I realized that if Lot was still living in the country as a nomad and still had "his men", this whole episode of orbbery and captivity would never have happened!  It was not wrong for Lot to move to the lush area, but somehow Lot became infatuated with the city of Sodom!  Did he go in there to buy supplies and just fall in love with the place... the nice restaurants... the cool malls... the artsy summer evening shows... the adult entertainment clubs... the crusin' nights with '50s cars (well OK, that they didn't have, but if it was 2014, they'd have had em!)?  Somewhere, somehow, Lot gave up the whole agricultural thing and settled down in the city of Sodom.  I somehow always pictured that Lot just had a wife and a couple of daughters; but a careful reading of Genesis nineteen shows he had several daughters, some sons-in-law, and some sons.  Ultimately, only Lot and two unmarried daughters escaped Sodom just before it was destroyed with "fire and brimstone".   The verses I opened this piece with state that the sins of Sodom really bugged Lot;  but he stayed there anyway!  Listen, there's no question that violent homosexuality was a key sin of Sodom, but it was not their only sin.  Notice what the forty-ninth verse of Ezekiel chapter sixteen tells us (from the New King James Version):

"Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."

This place was just plain bad.  Two angels in the form of men came to Sodom to warn Lot to get out of there before it was destroyed.  No kidding, a bunch of guys from Sodom showed up wanting to gang rape them!   (Yes, that's in the Bible!)  Lot offered that they could rape his maiden daughters, instead  (Lot, are you serious?!)  Lot tried to warn his sons-in-law that God was about to destroy the place.  They cracked up laughing and thought he was clowning around with them!  Note: they perished!  Initially, Lot whined like Dr. Zachary Smith of television's Lost in Space that he'd never survive escaping to the mountains so he wanted to move to the little city of Zoar.  (Notice that again he wanted to live in a city.)  Shortly after the destruction of Sodom, Lot became afraid (again, sounding like Dr. Zachary Smith) and in fact did go to the mountains with his two daughters, as the angels originally instructed him to do.   What an awful end is found in Genesis chapter nineteen!  One daughter gets Lot drunk, has sex with him, and gets pregnant.  Later, the other daughter gets him drunk, has sex with him, and gets pregnant.  These girls gave birth to the ancestors of the Moabites and the Ammonites.  (Yes, it's true that the Godly woman, Ruth was a Moabite; but really, this is awful stuff!)

Lot made some choices throughout his life, over a period of many years.   In many respects he was a "good" man and a "righteous" man, but frankly, he did not finish well.  He did not leave a Godly legacy.

I was left with a Lot to think about today!