Genesis 19
How carefully did Lot investigate Sodom before deciding to live there? The people there were wicked and yet Lot decided to go there. We don’t have those details but it turned out to be the wrong choice.
In this story we can see the danger of unchecked worldliness upon righteous people – which the Bible calls Lot.
- Lot silently dwelt in Sodom’s wickedness. When the angels come, Lot is sitting in the gate, a place of respect at that time. Lot had found his place among these people. When he sees these strangers he immediately brings them to his house. Why? And he urges them to leave. He knows what this place is like. Do we have the courage to speak up in a world full of warped, wicked things?
- Lot’s family was influenced by Sodom’s wickedness. When he finally wakes up and is forced to do something it is too late. He offers up his virgin daughters to these strangers. He is a man of fear now. He goes out to warn his sons in law and they think he’s nuts. So they stay there and they are condemned. His wife makes it out but looks back despite God’s warning not to. She’s turned into a pillar of salt. And then there’s the end of the story when his daughters commit incest with him. They may have escaped the city but they did not escape the wickedness of the culture they had grown up in.
- If I passively mingle with the wicked, I can’t be surprised when sin infiltrates my home. This story is much bigger than Lot. Go to Judges 19. Ezekiel 16 or 23 are other texts that show what happened to Israel. These are God’s own people who are living this way. This is an outrageous thing they are okay with. This is what happens when we don’t deal with sin.
We live in a very confused world. One which even confuses that God made us male and female. It is God’s way that is full of blessing. What is our response to a world full of sin. Do we sit passively by as Lot did? Or do we stand up against it?
