No Loitering

“And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.” (Ge 19:16 AV)

 

This passage refers to Lot, his wife, and his two daughters.  The LORD has pronounced judgment on the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The LORD sent two angels to warn Lot and his family to vacate the cities so that God could judge them.  What jumped out this morning is Lot and his family had to be taken out by the hand because they lingered.  They were taken out because God has mercy on them.  Lot is a type of the church which is raptured out of a very wicked and evil world.  Like Sodom and Gomorrah, wickedness will not stop at the door.  Wickedness will be flaunted and those who despise God will wish to harm those who follow Him.  Mark it down.  This is coming.  What I cannot understand is why Lot and his family lingered.  In his defense, it might have been he was still trying to convince his married children and their spouses.  However, it might have been something far more trivial.  The point is, they had to be dragged out of a wicked city because they lingered.

Several years back, when I lived near Paducah, KY, my wife and I were eating at and O’Charlys.  Their chicken tenders are out of this world. So, too, is their balsamic Chicken.  Awesome.  Anyway, a storm was brewing outside.  There were probably a hundred people in the restaurant.  The storm was predicted well in advance.  Like days in advance.  We knew it was coming.  Yet, there we all were.  In a restaurant with no basement or ability to duck for cover.  Then all of a sudden my phone went off.  I didn’t realize I had weather alerts marked on my phone.  So, a warning sound like the Emergency Broadcast System alert went off.  Real loud!  It was so loud everyone in the restaurant heard it.  Then the computer voice of a NOAA announcement announced there was a tornado heading right for us.  People all over the restaurant heard it.  Some asked for clarification.  I had to repeat the warning and the track of the storm.  A few people rushed to leave.  Most of us stayed put.  Where were we going to go?  We all lingered because we didn’t see any need to panic.

The more I think of this the more I am apt to think it is a perfect description of the church in the last days.  Something tells me that no matter how bad things are, a significant portion of those of us who call ourselves saints would rather linger in the sin-soaked world than enjoy the gift of the rapture.  Our interests will be on the things of this world and not one that which is above.  Our affections will be on that which we know and not on that which we have neglected.  The church will literally have to be removed by a strong hand of the LORD because we linger.  We linger in places we should never have been in the first place.  We linger because we love people more than we love God.  We linger because we reminisce of all the blessings God has given in this life, not remembering the blessings of the life to come cannot be compared.  We linger because we are not ready to leave what has become dear to us.  We linger because we are saying goodbye to the familiar as we embrace the unfamiliar.  Whatever the reason, lingering is the wrong response to God’s mercy of deliverance.  Some of these things are dear to us.  And that is not a bad thing.  But linger we must not.