“And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.” (Ge 19:2-3 AV)
It is customary to invite guests into one’s home for the evening. It was much safer for them lest they spend the evening in hostile surroundings and risk being victimized by an ungodly populace. That was Lot’s intention. Two angels came to visit him. They were tasked with bringing Lot and his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah lest they die with the wicked. It was late in the day and flight would not have been possible. So, Lot invited the angels to remain under his roof for the evening. They declined the offer, but Lot persisted. Note that he pressed upon them greatly. This wasn’t a simple invite. Lot persisted until they relented. The thing is, they are angels of the LORD. There is no risk to them. They have the power of God and if they felt threatened, they could take care of themselves. Lot would have none of it. He insisted they relent to his invitation. In the middle of the night, sodomites came to the door and demanded Lot release the angels to their warped deviancy. Lot refused. Instead, he offers his daughters to their deviant desires. I wonder how they felt! The thing is, had Lot listened to the angels to begin with, he never would have had to offer his daughters as objects of lust. The angels took care of it. They blinded the eyes of all those perverts. They could have done that without involving Lot at all. All Lot had to do was to accept God’s will without thinking he had a better plan. This seems to be Lot’s pattern.
Lot was brought up with Abraham. Lot was Abraham’s nephew. Rather than stay under the protection of Abraham, he parted from Abraham desiring the well-watered plains. However, he changed God’s plan and pitched his tent in Sodom. Here, Lot changes God’s plan and invites the angels in. When he flees from Sodom, God told him to go to a mountain. He insists he must go to a small city, Zoar. God relents, then Lot flees to the mountains, anyway. It is in the cave of the mountain he fathers two nations with his daughters that turn out to be Israel’s greatest enemies. Every time God tells Lot to do something or not do something, he thinks his judgment is better. This leads to severe consequences. Lot lost his family. He lost his wife, sons-in-law, sons, and at least two daughters. When he flees Sodom, his wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. Her eyes were city focused. Perhaps that was why Lot wanted to go to Zoar. When he fathers two Israel-hating nations, Lot loses the remaining part of his family.
Thinking we have a better plan that God costs us. Sometime, it costs us dearly. In all cases mentioned above, there was a rationale behind Lot’s choice. It wasn’t simple desire. He desired the plains because it was better grass. He pitched toward Sodom and Gomorrah because his daughters needed husbands. He desired to go to Zoar because he feared the wild animals of the mountains more than the wicked of a city. He eventually went to the mountains because he feared the wrath of God in the cities. There was always a good reason to change God’s plan. Lot was pragmatic, if nothing else. It was that pragmatism over faith that was his undoing. There was a program on many decades ago called Father Knows Best. It was a family show that supported the leadership of the father in the home. The family learned that Dad was usually right and worthy of being trusted. Today’s sitcoms portray dad as a bumbling idiot who couldn’t tie his own shoes. He is not to be trusted. This is what Lot did. He felt he had a better grasp on what was the best course of action and he couldn’t bring himself to trust the LORD. We learn, don’t we? Often at significant cost.
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