Good Morning.
“Whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. (Genesis 19:12-14)
After rescuing Lot from a mob of Sodomites, the angels gave Lot and his entire family the opportunity to be rescued from the pending destruction. Sadly, only three out of as many as eight people would be saved. Those who died perished because they simply couldn’t believe that the city was to be overturned or, as in the case of Lot’s wife, they couldn’t let go. Later, Yeshua would warn His disciples to, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Obviously, Lot had been in Sodom long enough that its influences and opportunities were a comfort and a snare to many in his family. When the warning came to leave, they just couldn’t bring themselves to abandon what they considered to be their home. That his sons-in-law thought he was joking makes you wonder just how convincing Lot was trying to be; perhaps he had his doubts as well.
The situation reminds me of another tragedy that occurred closer to our time — the sinking of the Titanic. One of the most striking aspects of that disaster is the fact that, early on, crew members were finding it difficult to convince people to get into the lifeboats. That is why, in fact, many of the lifeboats were launched half full — few wanted to abandon the luxury and perceived safety of the grand ship and climb into a small boat. Unfortunately, that hesitation cost many lives.
It is typical of us, as human beings, to deny that our lives can be upended overnight. We don’t want to believe or have a hard time believing that anything of biblical proportion could really happen to us or our lifestyle. The reality is that, on multiple occasions in Scripture, God’s people had to leave everything behind in a moment’s notice if they were going to follow the voice of God. Therefore, let us be careful about getting too attached to our stuff and remember Messiah’s warning:
“Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. (Luke 17:32-33)
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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