Genesis 19

(Gen 19:1-38): This chapter is nothing but pure ugly. If it wasn’t for Abraham’s intercession for the righteous and Peter’s testimony about Lot troubling his righteous soul with the deeds of the wicked, we would be convinced based on the prevailing evidence or lack of fruit that Lot was not a righteous man. What he turned out to be was a righteous failure.  

Here is evidence of a righteous man who never yielded to the authority of God in his life; his life was self-driven, unlike his uncle Abraham, and his love for things. Lest we think it doesn’t matter if we submit to God’s authority as the rule of life, the Word of God; Lot lived a miserable life living apart from the blessings of God. We would expect this because only holiness before God produces real happiness and blessing. 

This is the way God designed it to be. A life without God leaves a void or hole in the heart that can never be filled, not by knowledge, power, or possessions. With the visitation of the angels to retrieve Lot and his family, things deteriorated rapidly.

The men of Sodom were actually lusting after angels (Gen 19:1, 5). Lot offered up his two daughters to protect his guests (Gen 19:8). The people Lot lived among got tired of him judging them and rushed at him (Gen 19:7, 9). The angel smote those attempting to get through the door with blindness, both old and young, and they were still groping for the door (Gen 19:11)! Lot went to warn his two sons-in-law in the night that the LORD was going to destroy the city, and they thought he was joking (Gen 19:14). They died in their laughter….

As the morning dawned, the angel urged Lot to hurry and take his wife and two daughters and flee the city unless they die. And what did Lot do? He lingered (Gen 19:16)! The two angels grabbed their hands and ushered all four of them out of the city. One of the angelic instructions was to escape to the mountains (Gen 19:17). Lot knew better than the angels (Gen 19:19) and wanted to escape to Zoar which actually saved that city from destruction (Gen 19:21-22). But eventually, he fled Zoar after the destruction (Gen 19:24-25) out of fear and wound up going to the mountains anyway, living in some remote cave (Gen 19:30). 

Lot, his wife, and their two daughters were warned not to look behind them as they fled Sodom, but Lot’s wife looked back behind her, and she became a pillar of salt (Gen 19:26). Ironically, salt serves as a preserver, but not in this case!

To preserve the lineage of their father, his two daughters got him drunk and committed incest in the cave (Gen 19:32). One gave birth to the Moabites (Gen 19:37) and the other to the Ammonites (Gen 19:38). The descendants of both of Lot’s grandsons became enemies of Israel. This is an illustration of the ripple effect of sin. You can be forgiven but the ripples (or the law of the harvest) continue.

And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace (Gen 19:27-28).

Lot and his two daughters would have been part of the smoke of the land had it not been for uncle Abraham’s intercession when he had stood before Yahweh, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt (Gen 19:29).

This has got to be one of the most depressing chapters in Genesis! How miserable and fruitless our lives can become when we choose to be self-centric rather than God-centric! The life of Abraham stands out in sharp relief to that of his world-loving nephew. The ungodly press on in darkness and scoff at the idea of judgment, but in a moment’s time, the dark world of the wicked in the cities of the plain was lit up – the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the Plain. All of the ungodly were incinerated and went up in smoke.  

Father, wouldn't it be something if all the inhabitants of the earth turned from their evil ways! You provided a way of escape for every man, woman, and child, but the inexplicable love of the overwhelming masses for darkness is unnerving. In spite of that darkness, You demonstrated your love (agape) toward us in that while we were yet your enemies, Your Son died for us!

Nonetheless, innumerable souls continue to love (agapao) the darkness rather than Your Light, seeing no need for salvation but only the desire for more sin. May my heart be so inclined to love the way of the LORD, to do right and be just in my walk that I might not create a negative ripple effect from a wasted life as a righteous failure as Abraham’s nephew, Lot. <><