Lot Lingered

Lot’s story serves as a powerful reminder of how ignoring God’s warnings can have devastating consequences for ourselves and our families, but through heartfelt repentance and God’s grace, we can escape its long-term effects.

-Transcript Below-

Lot lingered.  

I thought I knew this story pretty well.  Sodom. Gomorrah.  Fire. Brimstone. Salt. But as I was reading this morning, I noticed the phrase, “But he lingered (Gen. 19:16). Lot had seen the people of Sodom try to assault the messengers of God.  He had witnessed first hand the power of those messengers when they struck everybody blind.  He knew what was coming, and He… still…  lingered.  His sons-in-law even thought he was joking when he told them to leave.  

Lot lingered. 

Lot’s wife gets the bad rap here for looking back, but Lot led his family to Sodom, stayed longer than he should have, and changed the trajectory of his entire bloodline. How? I’m not sure why Lot went from having more livestock than the land could support to living behind city walls.  I don’t know the level to which he allowed himself and his family to sink, but I do know that, at some point, comfort or wealth or position allowed Lot to overlook the sin that surrounded his family/  It allowed him to cross a line, to abandon what he knew to be right.

And me?   I have zero room to pass judgment on Lot.  How many times have I allowed sin to stick around for a while, excusing bad behavior for any number of reasons?  This is the lure, the trap of sin.  Our flesh lives for it, can’t wait for that moment when we give in to our feelings rather than holding ourselves accountable to the Word of God.  Then –  even when we know our behavior to be wrong based on the word of God – we linger.  We find ways to pardon, to excuse.  We try to claim the Word as outdated and our hearts as the true measure of things.  

The Father’s grace gets Lot out.  Physically.  Even on the morning of the destruction of his home, Lot has to be physically removed. He still doesn’t want to leave. Men, pay attention here: Lot’s willingness to accommodate sin has long-term repercussions for his family.  His wife looks back, yearning for that life, and he loses her.  He finds himself living in a cave afraid to go into the city.  His two daughter’s have a moral compass that is so shattered that they get their father drunk, not once, but twice, in order to continue their family line.  And his grandchildren’s names will become synonymous with the enemies of God.  What?!

This is the infectious, insidious, viral nature of sin.  It’s why families often have sins that affect generations.  It’s why we guard our hearts and our homes.  It’s why we have to be vigilant.  It’s also why we are ever reliant on the grace of God.  I’ve lost count of the number of times that he has separated me from a situation, ended a relationship, moved my entire family, to help keep sin at bay and our relationship in tact.  The Father always makes a way.  

Sin happens.  It’s a part of this fallen world in which we live.  But forgiveness and sanctification are available through heart-felt repentance.  

We don’t have to linger…