First off, I apologize for missing the WFTD on Friday.  Sometimes people have asked if I write these out beforehand, and the answer is “no”.  These are always written (at least in part) the day of, based on how God is leading me.  As I’m not a vocational minister, some days I can just be really slammed at work, and it makes it difficult to send these out.  Separately, also know that often times I am writing from an authoritative voice – I can do this because most everything I write is simply scripture explaining scripture, or an exposition thereof, so my confidence isn’t drawn from within or my opinions, but in the Word of God.  Secondly, I also want to share, that usually what is written is as applicable to me as it is anyone.  I’ve found that usually what is helpful to me personally will be helpful to others as well, so that’s how/why I write – not as someone who has “arrived”, but as someone who is running the race along with all of you.  I hope this finds you well!

That said, today I wanted to wrap up what we can learn from Lot, which is… a lot.  Ok enough puns, ha ha.

So we’d looked at how blessed Abraham’s decision to walk by faith, and we’ve seen, in part, the fruit of Lot’s poor decision to go by what seemed right in his own eyes.  We saw how Lot’s sin, grew and grew, to where he moved close to Sodom, to living inside the city walls, to in Genesis 19, where he was actually an elected person greeting foreigners.

What I want us to see today, is the faithfulness of God.  In Genesis 19, Lot convinces the two angels of the LORD who had come to judge Sodom, to stay in his home.  The people of the city surround his house demanding that Lot give over the foreigners so that they could have “relations” with them.  How wicked can you be?  As a note, in this time/place, if a stanger came into your home, you would defend them even unto death; so Lot offered to give the mob his daughters instead.  The mob refused, and before Lots daughters were turned over, the angels of the Lord struck the mob with blindness so that they could not see, yet they still were groping to find Lot’s door.  At this point, I’d say the angels of the Lord had seen enough!  They came to see the wickedness of Sodom and now were going to judge the city.  They told Lot to get his family together to leave their house.  What was Lot’s response?  He didn’t want to leave!!  After all that Lot was lingering about his home, so the angels of the Lord in their mercy, grabbed Lot, his wife, and their two daughters and moved them outside the city.

What I want all of us to see and be encouraged by here are two things.  One is that Lot clearly had fallen far away from God, but God had not forgotten Him.  God is so just and righteous, that He could not destroy the city, if even one righteous person was left in it.  Even though Lot had sinned against the Lord, God’s faithfulness to Lot, is seen by His acting to remove him from the place of sin, to save his life.

The second thing I want us to see is that the basis for God’s saving Lot was not in Lot’s righteous works.  Clearly Lot offering his daughters to the mob showed that he was still doing what seemed best to him, instead of trusting the Lord.  Yet, God is so good, that He will not allow a single one of His children to perish – God had chosen Lot to represent his mercy amidst righteous judgement, and whomever God has declared righteous, he will not later declare unrighteous.  The providential choice of God, and His promises are true.

How does this apply to you today?  Are you struggling in sin?  Are you dealing with the consequences of decisions you made a long time ago?  Are you stuck in sin, and feel like you can’t/don’t want to leave?  There is always hope in God, God delights in seeking and saving the lost, this was the very reason Jesus came to die.  His rescue of you may be costly – after all, Lot had to leave everything behind when he was dragged from the city, but it just may save your life.

Secondly, are you a believer wondering how to approach God, when you’re struggling with sin?  Do you realize that when God saved Lot, it wasn’t because Lot was a good person.  What kind of person tries to get out of a bad situation by offering up his daughters to a mob?!  God saved Lot, because Lot was declared righteous, and he was righteous because in between God and Lot stood the person of Jesus Christ.  All of us deserve the judgement of Sodom – all of us fall short of the holiness of God.  Lot was an object of God’s mercy, just as we all are in Christ.  When God sees you, He doesn’t see the sinful wretch that we all are – he sees the new creation (2 Cor 5:17), he sees the perfect righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ, which has been given to us by God’s grace (unmerited favor) through our faith in Him.  Your sin does not define you, you are in Christ, and in Him you have become the righteousness of God.  Live life confidently out of this truth, live a life in keeping with your calling and faith, and approach God boldly, knowing that in Christ, all of the promises of God to us have been fulfilled.  2 Corinthians 1:20-22 – “²⁰For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. ²¹And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, ²²and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” 

Grace and Peace,
Adam