David Bahn – Reflections

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From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. ² And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? ⁵ Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” – Genesis 20:1-7

I would rather not deal with the uglier things of life. I’m not a fan of horror movies. I couldn’t make it all the way through Braveheart. It was just too graphically gruesome. I watched The Passion of the Christ, but I didn’t find the graphic violence edifying. So if you’re following this blog from day to day, you’ll see I skipped over the incidents of Lot’s daughters and their drunken father. But, alas, here we are. Abraham is at it again. This seems to be less unseemly. But still…must we have this example of Abraham’s unfaithfulness played out before our eyes? Again!?!

The Bible is filled with real people, living real lives, doing real things. Those real things too often include sinful things. Peter denying Jesus. Disciples squabbling over who gets to sit in the seat of honor in Jesus’ coming kingdom. David and Bathsheba. Cain and Abel. Noah and his sons. One after another we see God’s people (N.B.) making poor choices. That’s putting it euphemistically. Better just say it: you see God’s people sinning. Breaking the commandments. Caving into temptation. Fearing man rather than God. 

God’s people are real people. They are human. 

But so was Jesus. Only he was without sin. He was real. He was tempted. He faced real life and death crises. But he did not sin. 

My point here? When we say, “I’m only human,” we shortchange what it means to be human. Adam and Eve were human – before they sinned. Jesus was human. Fully human. He was the fulfillment of all that humans were meant to be. 

Better we say, “God’s people are sinners.” Even though that’s not the whole story. Nor should it be. We who believe in Jesus are born again, and as such we are also saints. New creations. And our sinfulness is never an excuse for bad behavior. It is a cause for repentance. It is what required God to redeem us. It is why Jesus had to come, live, teach, suffer, and die. And his resurrection proves he did it perfectly. We’ll celebrate that in the life of the world to come when Jesus returns and takes his sinful saints home. He is our righteousness. 

Abraham is an example of faith. It was a faltering faith at times – seen in this incident above. He repeats his deception, calling Sarah his sister, only to be caught out again. And here is the interesting part: God calls Abraham his prophet. After all that, he is recognized by God before Abimelech as one who would pray for him. 

God’s people are sinners. They are forgiven sinners. And they are also the ones God uses to intercede for others. We serve the Father as broken vessels of God’s grace. And if, once in a while, our brokenness becomes evident, we can be thankful that God’s grace abounds. And perhaps it will leak out from us and be a source of blessing and favor to others. 

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The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. – Genesis 19:23-29

On May 27, 1997, one of the most violent tornadoes in modern U.S. history produced close-to-unfathomable damage on the outskirts of Jarrell, TX, located about 40 miles north-northeast of Austin. … The Jarrell tornado broke many assumptions about twister behavior. It also left a grim toll, including 27 lives lost (Weather Underground). One photo taken after the storm shows plumbing actually pulled out of the concrete slab on which a house had stood. Storms such as these are rare, and we seldom attach a particular sin or unique evil to those who suffer such catastrophe. We must take to heart Jesus’ teaching, “And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too” (Luke 13:4-5).

I recall also hearing that the tornado in Jerrell had sucked up all the grass from the fields and lawns in its path. Total devastation. Utter destruction. Such was the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And this is one case to which we may lay God’s direct cause. Moses makes it clear: God overthrew these cities. Overthrew. This is not evil caving in under its own weight. This is not a matter of life and trouble in a fallen world. This is God acting. Judging. Condemning. Overthrowing.

We are rightly cautious about attributing any and all troubles to a particular person’s or community’s sin. Jesus teaches about that in the healing of the blind man (John 9). Neither this man sinned nor his parents. This was for the glory of God. That glory would be revealed when Jesus healed the man born blind. 

God punishes sin with sin. When you see the evil spiral of one vicious agent of evil taking out another, you’re seeing how true this is. Gang wars. Organized crime. Ill gotten financial empires crumbling. Even governments succumb to their own corruption. (Sometimes not soon enough for our sensibilities). 

So every time we see catastrophes of one kind or another what are we to do? We must not judge. We’re all sinners, living in a sinful world. We need not pronounce it as the visitation of a just and holy God. Though it may be just that. We must, however, repent. We must follow the lead of Nehemiah who, upon learning of the ruined walls of Jerusalem, prayed and confessed his sin, and the sin of his forefathers. 

And while we must not too quickly attach God’s direct hand on every evil, the words of Amos come to my mind:

⁷ “I kept the rain from falling
    when your crops needed it the most.
I sent rain on one town
    but withheld it from another.
Rain fell on one field,
    while another field withered away.
⁸ People staggered from town to town looking for water,
    but there was never enough.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

⁹ “I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew.
    Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

¹⁰ “I sent plagues on you
    like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.
I killed your young men in war
    and led all your horses away.^[a]
    The stench of death filled the air!
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

¹¹ “I destroyed some of your cities,
    as I destroyed^[b]Sodom and Gomorrah.
Those of you who survived
    were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

¹² “Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced.
    Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”

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The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. – Genesis 19:23-29

One of my favorite Bible stories is the account of the seven sons of Sceva. These seven sons undertook to invoke the name of Jesus over some evil spirits. “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims,” they said. The evil spirits said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” These seven sons were sent bleeding and bruised from the house. Dismissed summarily. 

The question of the evil spirit is a worthy one for us: Who are you? How is it that we claim to Jesus’ name and God’s power? That question is answered when we take our proper place in this account of Sodom and Gamorah’s destruction. Who are you in this story? 

To some extent or another we are all Rescued Lot. Safe by the grace of God and the agency of his messengers. Some of us have been visited by angels as we normally think of them who have come to our aid in miraculous ways. All us us have been visited by angels in the less dramatic form, for the word means “messenger.” We have heard the message of God through these agents of God’s grace: Mother, father, grandmother, Sunday school teacher, friend, or pastor. We can survey the landscape of destruction from which we have been spared having been rescued. 

We might be faithful Abraham who surveys the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah after having interceded for the righteous people in those places. We may have succeeded in interceding for someone but seen the sad desolation of godlessness in the wake of its demise as it cave in on itself. Evil cannot forever stand, it will collapse under its own weight. We might sadly watch that happen. 

Surely we are not Lot’s wife who could not resist one last look back – a furtive one??? – at the place she had lived. Did she not believe the destruction would be so cataclysmic? Was she simply fascinated by the devastation being visited on her erstwhile home? Looking back on a sin abandoned is a temptation we may give into. The children of Israel will do so after they are rescued by Moses (cf. Numbers 11:5), yearning for the good old days, forgetting the travail of their slavery there. But we must not neglect the warnings of God and treat them as optional guidelines when they are dire warnings of grave danger.

We will certainly not place ourselves in this story as the One who orchestrates it all. We’re not the One to whom everyone else must answer. We are not the One who holds life and death in our hands. We are not the One who saves and destroys.

We are, however, his. And that identity is most important of all. We are the children of God. His beloved. His redeemed. His precious. His delight. His joy. And from whomever else’s perspective we may view the events in this account, our true identity is found in his loving kindness toward us and our place of delight in his heart. 

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The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

³⁰ Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁴ The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. – Genesis 19:23-38

Maybe you grew up with a Sunday school concept of Bible characters. I didn’t learn about David and Bathsheba until I was well out of my younger years. I didn’t recognize some of the personality quirks of Peter, Thomas, Philip, Paul, or the Sons of Thunder. And one time I was in a group of adults when I learned that Jacob was a rogue character. Let’s not even mention Amnon (2 Samuel 13), and now Lot’s daughters. Bible characters are not two dimensional flannel board cutouts. They’re real. They are crusty. They behave badly. Even God’s chosen people faulted and fall. Sometimes the failures are colossal.  This is no excuse. It’s just a fact. 

But the consequences of sin of any and all kinds are real and far-reaching. In this case, the colossal failure of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah comes to a screeching halt as God rains down fire and brimstone on these cities. The destruction was complete. And while this destruction is swift and cataclysmic, the event itself requires only 2 verses to report. The collateral damage is remarkable as Lot’s wife is turned to a pillar of salt. 

Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin is well known. But what of Lot’s wife? She merely looks back! Why is she so dramatically punished? Might she have lingered and simply been destroyed with these two cities? Or was this simply a wistful longing for that place and even the life she was forced to leave behind? She ignores the expressed prohibition of the angels, “Do not look back.” For whatever reason she does. And the consequences are swift and severe. 

Even though we may be forgiven for any and all sin, God’s people are not immune from the consequences of our actions. And there are prohibitions and warnings even to us who live in the New Testament era. We must not ignore them! 

The sins of the world in which we live do not escape his attention. And this is no fairy tale world. Whether it’s the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the horrific destruction of earthquake, famine, or hurricane, God’s people are not exempt from life as it really is. These may be direct acts of God’s judgment or the real and harsh consequences of life in a fallen world. But in any case these are God’s call to repentance and fair warning of a more grave and ultimate judgment. 

Thanks be to God that there is a place of safety in our Zoar: Jesus Christ our Lord. In him we have redemption, rescue, life, and salvation. We can hold to that hope in the midst of all of life.

For your personal edification and reflection on this Lord’s Day

Psalm 12:8

The words of the Lord are pure words,
    like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
    purified seven times.

Psalm 42:5

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God.

Psalm 72:18-19

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be his glorious name forever;
    may the whole earth be filled with his glory!
Amen and Amen!

Psalm 102:1-2

Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you!
Do not hide your face from me
    in the day of my distress!
Incline your ear to me;
    answer me speedily in the day when I call!

Psalm 132:8-9

Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might.
Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
    and let your saints shout for joy.

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And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords.¹⁹ Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰ Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!”²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.²² Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. – Genesis 19:17-22 [ESV]

The money was in the purse conveniently left on the end table in a spare bedroom. I was in junior high. The temptation was too great. I took the money. It was a trap. My parents were concerned about my integrity in this area. My failure led me to a grounding that really managed to make an impression. And set me on a path of financial integrity. I won’t even handle the offerings at church by myself. Ugh.

Sometimes it just so simple: Do the right thing. Too often, however, we fail to do the right thing (really, it takes only one time to be too often). The expense account gets estimated to our decided favor. The juicy bit of gossip just manages to slip from our lips. The dress (or computer, or camera, or jewelry, or ???) sale manages to tug our credit card from our wallet. 

Not so with God. Lot knows this. He appeals to God’s righteousness, his true trajectory of decision-making, and his sense of mercy. Lot will take refuge in the little city of Zoar. Sodom and Gomorrah will be destroyed. And while such drastic action seems gravely stern and overly precipitous, it is not. The whole city apart from Lot and his family was corrupt. We’ve already mentioned that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah were more fundamental than their abandonment of sexual purity. They were noted for dishonesty, abuse of the weak, and injustice toward the poor. We know them for their abandonment of sexual purity. 

I would certainly wish that it was not necessary that God destroy the city because of their sin and his righteousness. Part of that has to do with my fear of coming under the same judgment. Jesus’ words are instructive here. Speaking of his care and concern for his disciples, he says, “If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave. I tell you the truth, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off than such a town on the judgment day (Matthew 10:14-15).

Jesus is the Word made flesh, “full of grace and truth.” Truth is, we’ve all “sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Grace is, we’re “saved by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). All this is reconciled in Jesus’ incarnation, life, suffering, death, and resurrection. It will be fully culminated in Jesus’ return. All who take refuge in him will be saved.

Perhaps Zoar is a symbol for Jesus: a little town, a man of little human consequence (cf. Isaiah 53). But his commitment to doing the right thing never wavered. He never flenched from loving God. He never failed in his pure and perfect love for sinners. He is our refuge from the coming destruction of every evil power, plan, pretension, or place known to man and the powers of this world. But step through the door of this city and discover just how large is God’s heart and love, his grace and kindness. The joy of his salvation knows no bounds. It rings through eternity. To the praise of his glorious grace!  

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And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords.¹⁹ Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰ Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!”²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.²² Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. – Genesis 19:17-22 [ESV]

“A snake! A snake! Run for your life!” My sister Barbara and I were crawling through the bushes around our grandmother’s house out in the country. A black snake had crawled up into those bushes for reasons of which we may only speculate. When Barbara saw it, she sounded the alarm…and we ran for our lives. 

On the way home from school, in another time and different location, we would cross through a barn yard to get to our home. Living in the country for a few months while we were in transition to a new house, presented new experiences. And boy did we have one that day. Momma sow saw us coming and must have thought that we were a threat to her piglets. She took out after us on the run. Do you know how fast pigs can run? I’ll tell you: fast! We jumped the fence to get to safety.

When threats are immanent we don’t even realize adrenaline is pumping. We simply run faster, jump higher, or fight harder than we would otherwise. We may whistle past the graveyard but if we do, all our senses are heightened, and we ready ourselves for action at a moment’s notice. 

How many times, however, have we heard a very clear call to run for our lives and ignored it? I’m not thinking of COVID-19 alarms or hurricane warnings. I’m thinking of warnings from God.

• Flee from immorality! (1 Corinthians 6:18,2 Timothy 2:22)
• Beware of greed.(Luke 12:15)
• Watch your tongue. (James 3)
• Repent or perish! (Luke 13:3, 5)
• Watch, for your don’t know the hour. (Matthew 25:13)

How easy it is for us to dismiss the urgent call to repent, reorder our lives, abandon evil pursuits, or escape judgment or destruction! Lot almost falls prey to the lure of waiting and ignoring the imminent danger that will soon befall Sodom and Gomorrah. Had the angels not compelled him – taken him by the hand – he likely would have perished. 

I suspect there are some lessons for me here. There may be a sin to confess, a promise to claim, a warning to heed, a hope to embrace, a vice to abandon that I need to act on more urgently. Perhaps you do too. While it is day, there is time to do so. But we who really do need to recalibrate must not be lulled into a false sense of security in our laxness toward God just because The End has not yet come. 

God’s gracious desire is always for our rescue, redemption, and salvation. Will we listen to his voice and heed his call? It is far better that we do! 

Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters.^[f]Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.¹³ You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.¹⁴ For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.¹⁵ Remember what it says:

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And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords.¹⁹ Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰ Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!”²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.²² Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. – Genesis 19:17-22 [ESV]

I’m not inclined to push my agenda in the short term. If I get resistance, I back down. I may try a different tact later. And if the goal is really important, I won’t soon give up. In the bargaining game, I’m not as insistent. I don’t drive a hard bargain. I might pay a little more for that car than someone else. I might not negotiate the best deal on a rental car, or other negotiable deals.

It seems, however, that Abraham is masters of the art. Abraham negotiates a stay of destruction if 10 righteous people can be found in Sodom. Lot, on this occasion, pushes it with the angels. His prayer, however, is not like Abraham’s. He seems more to plead from weakness and fear than boldness and faith. But his weak and fearful plea does not go unheeded. The town of Zoar is allowed to be a place of refuge for him and his family. 

Sometimes we may pray boldly. We might throw the sack at the door of God’s throne of grace. I’ve previously quoted this prayer of Luther for his friend and colleague Philip Melanchthon:

Sometimes, though, our prayers are faint whispers, and we may wonder whether they get above the ceiling, much less reach the throne room of God. But take heart! The prayers of Lot are heard as well as those of Abraham. Abraham is the father of faith. And his strong faith shows up in the manner in which he speaks to God. Bold. Direct. “Sack against the door” Strong. 

Lot is weak and pleading. Both are heard. This is good news. For we’re not all Abraham-like in our faith. We might occasionally feel very weak. While there may be times for us to claim a faith like Abraham’s, we can lean into the goodness, mercy, and kindness of God in every situation. In those weak and uncertain moments, we can remember this encounter with Lot and the promise of Isaiah 42:3, which says that God “will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.” Knowing that may make even the weakest prayers stronger.  

*Julius Kostlin, Life of Luther, trans. John G. Morris (Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1883), 440. Also see Julius Kostlin, Luthers Leben, 2nd ed. (Leipzig: Fues’s Verlag, 1883), 546-547. As quoted by Albert B. Collver III, in the April/May edition of the Concordia Theological Quarterly

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At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”
When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful. When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” – Genesis 19:15-17 [NLT]

Dennis and Robert were in my 6th grade class, when they befriended me. They left a note on my desk that ended, “Zattd!” The rest I don’t recall, except that it was a jumble of letters that did not make sense to me. They had to tell me that it was code, a cypher actually. “Zattd!” meant, “Hurry!” They helped me understand that once I had figured out a few things (word lengths, spacing, punctuation, etc.), I would be able to break the code. I think they actually helped me decode the message. It was an invitation to be a member of their club. 

They were merciful. I didn’t have many friends in 6th grade. And their kindness to me was more merciful than they or I realized. They were good boys, not troublemakers. They were studious and relatively smart. I was not a troublemaker, but I was adrift when it came to my studies. They may not have realized I was in a difficult situation, but they were kind enough to be my friends.

Grace is undeserved love and kindness. Mercy is a kindness in response to someone’s pain and withholds punishment we do deserve. We see both played out in this encounter between Lot and his family and the angels who will rescue him and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, Moses even uses the word, “mercy” to describe the LORD’s attitude toward them that led him to wait for their escape before raining down destruction on these cities. 

Sometimes we’re aware of our need for mercy. When we’re in the throes of sickness and pain, we call out, “Lord have mercy!” Sometimes, however, we may not even be aware of our need or the dire straits we’re in. Like Lot and his family who wanted to delay their flight from Sodom, we might not be aware of the danger we’re in before we are rescued. 

A traffic delay prevents a more serious accident. A sick and absent co-worker preempts a relational meltdown over office politics. A job transfer removes the possibility for an illicit office romance. These may seem coincidental. But if a sparrow does not fall to the ground apart from the Father’s knowledge, then why would we remove his providential engagement in the everyday affairs of men and women? 

On one occasion Paul and his mission partners were prevented from entering into Asia Minor by the Spirit of Jesus (cf. Acts 16:6-12). That was to make possible the entry of the gospel into Europe. Here in Genesis, God’s mercy delays the city’s destruction to allow Lot and his family to escape. Ours may not be as dramatic or obvious. But one thing remains: God’s mercy is a precious gift. If grace is receiving something we don’t deserve and mercy is being exempted from punishment we do deserve, we can rejoice in both. We see it here in Genesis. We ought to look for it every day of our lives and give thanks to God for it. 

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At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”
When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful. When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
“Oh no, my lord!” Lot begged. “You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die. See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.”
“All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village. But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”)
Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon. Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt. – Genesis 19:16-26 [NLT]

The crash came at about 5 AM. The whole house shook. But I couldn’t identify its source. We were sleeping in the middle bedroom with plywood covering the window of that room. Hurricane Ike was doing its thing in the greater Houston area. And We were hunkered down.

The wind had swirled all night. The rain was incessant. This was no little storm. Sometime around 6 AM I walked from our middle bedroom toward the closet in our master bedroom. Then I heard the drip, drip, drip coming from the ceiling of our bedroom. Something had happened. Upon inspection outside I discovered that the something was a pine tree (one of 12 in our back yard) had been broken off about 20 feet in the air, its top crashing into our roof. One of the 1 inch branches had pierced our roof. Truly a minor bit of damage all things considered.

Previously we had experienced Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. People had fled New Orleans and made a run for safety. People from northwest Harris county had also fled. We had remained in place, and were actually able to offer shelter to a family with a small baby fleeing from his studies at Tulane University. This time, many people ignored the warnings. There comes a time when the warnings simply go unheeded. That had been one of those times.

The angels warn Lot and his family to flee. There would come cataclysmic destruction as a judgment of God. Had they not taken Lot and his family by their hands they would surely have been destroyed. As it was, it took more than a warning, but in the mercy of God, they were spared.

Is there a warning you’re ignoring? Are you too ready to conclude that people are crying wolf when they sound the alarm? I have no strong opinion about the current crises call about climate change. I’m pretty certain that the COVID-19 crisis is real. But I’m totally convinced that God’s call to repent and believe the gospel is absolutely vital. It is a message that must be heard. And believed. And heeded.

Maybe it’s a relationship that gets patched up. Perhaps it is a sin to be abandoned. It could be an overall laxness toward God’s word and will. It might be a failure to pray. But wherever God is calling you to repent and believe, take heed! And rejoice! God’s call is to life, salvation, blessing, and true joy.