The religion teacher was telling the children about Sodom and Gomorrah. Explaining the importance of obedience, she said that Lot’s wife disobeyed God and looked back, and as a result was turned into a pillar of salt. “That’s nothing,” responded Jamie. “My grandpa was driving his car and looked back; he turned into a telephone pole.”
Today we read the story of Lot, his wife, and two daughters. Lot’s wife wasn’t the only weak-willed person in the family. She took the lead from her husband (Genesis 19:15-29).
“As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, ‘On your way! Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of Sodom.’”
We would imagine that Lot, after hearing the urgency of the angel’s command, would have grabbed his daughters’ hands and hustled as fast as he could walk in the direction indicated by the angel. Not so.
“When (Lot) hesitated, the men, by the Lord’s mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city.”
What was he thinking about that led him to start “second guessing?” Was he thinking about his buddies in Sodom or the job he once had there? We feel like screaming at him, “What in the world is going on with you, Lot?” God, in his mercy, however, made up for Lot’s weakness of will; he ordered the angels to grab him and his family members by their hands and rush them along the road to safety.
Did everything go smoothly after that? It is hard to believe what happened next.
“As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told: ‘Flee for your life! Don’t look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away.’ ‘Oh no, my lord!’ Lot replied, ‘You have already thought enough of your servant to do me the great kindness of intervening to save my life. But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me…Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to…Let me flee there.’”
In the midst of the emergency, Lot started complaining. He started thinking about how steep the hill was and how tough would be the climb. So he proposed his own solution to the problem. To our surprise, the angel complied.
“Well then,” (the angel) replied, “I will also grant you the favor you now ask. I will not overthrow the town you speak of. Hurry, escape there!”
God, in his mercy, adjusted his plans to Lot weakness and saved him the strain of climbing up a hill. Though all the towns in the Plain would be destroyed, God agreed to make an exception of the small town of Zoar.
God’s amazing patience with Lot! Anyone else in their right mind would have said, “Forget it Lot! Go back to Sodom and perish with the rest of the sinners there!”
This is a story of God’s amazing mercy. I like the story, because Lot reminds me of myself. How many times has God “grabbed my hand” when I hesitated? How many times has he adjusted his plans to accommodate my weakness? What kind of God is it whose love is so great that it overflows with such patience!
Praise our Good Shepherd who is always there to carry us forward in our moments of great weakness.
“For your mercy is before my eyes, and I walk in your truth” (Ps 26:3).
