MosaicRC

Genesis 19

Lot is a pretty interesting guy.  Journeying the entire way with Uncle Abram from Ur to Haran to Canaan, he has seen a miraculous change in his uncle and the rewards of following this most powerful God.  Lot has witnessed Abram’s attempt to follow, understand, build altars, communicate, and reap rewards for his faithfulness.  Uncle Abram has been blessed beyond comprehension with fame, fortune, and power because of his faith and obedience .  Lot has benefited too as a result of being related to Abram, and he is also a wealthy man by their standards.  I wonder why his Uncle’s example and lifestyle were not enough for Lot to follow in his ways?

Abraham, in an attempt to keep peace between Lot’s and his own households, graciously gives Lot the choice of the land to raise his livestock and set up his house.  Looking from upon the hills he notices the valley of the Jordan plain is perfect for what he needs, and it is close to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Something about his choice seems a little selfish leaving his uncle to raise his cattle in the desert hills with less than perfect conditions for a rancher.  But Abram, content to trust God, went on his way to the mountains.

The cities were known for their inhospitable and immoral ways, but something was alluring about it.  That seems true of a lot of things that are bad for us today. We know they are harmful; but for some reason, we want to experiment with them anyway.  Lot moved down on the plain near Sodom. Later, he moved to Sodom. And finally, he became one of Sodom.  “Sitting at the gateway”  (Gen. 19:1) is another way to say he had become a civic leader of the city. Lot had acceptance and respect.

How does one come from the family of a man like Abraham, seeing and experiencing the blessings of God, and wind up living in a place like Sodom as a leader no less?  One word, COMPROMISE.  Lot may have been a new resident near the city who was actively set against the attitudes and actions of Sodom.  But as time went on, he must have seen so much everyday that after a while what once repulsed him didn’t seem so bad.  Making friends with some of the Sodomites, he might have thought, “Hey, we’re not too different.” So moving there did not seem so bad.  Now he was in it deeper — maybe not participating, but surely dulled to the effects of their lifestyles.  And finally, he must have been well accepted by the community to end up setting at the gateway as a judge to the city.  The apostle Peter tells us later that Lot was still considered a righteous man (2 Peter 2).  Though there is no evidence that Lot participated in the rituals of Sodom it is obvious that Sodom and it ways wore him down.

In order to have risen in stature, he had to be liked.  It is very plain to see that he lived a life of compromise; for if he had called what was going on wrong, he would have been thrown out on his ear finding himself and his family back in the wilderness tending sheep (would that have been so bad?).  Compromise is like a cancer that gets into you and slowly begins to eat away at you: a little dab will kill you.  Sometimes you may be one of the lucky ones who discovers it early and gets rid of it, living a good long life.  But the cancer of compromise can be a tough one to fight.  It has the power to cause a false sense of control, making us live in a place called denial.  We may say things, as I am sure that Lot said, “This isn’t that bad,” or “I’m good,” or “I’m not too far into it,” or “I can quit anytime I want,” etc…  Truth be told, we are stuck and need help.

Lot is a good example of a person who was willing to pick acceptance and position over being a truth teller.  In the end, it cost him everything: his home, possessions, position, friends, and his wife.  The consequences of the compromise of his life are more severe that what he might have thought.  Living in that community and condoning their lifestyle seemed to rub off on his daughters.  For when they seemed hopeless of preserving their fathers line, they got him drunk and became pregnant by Him (Gen. 19:30-38).  What seemed okay in Sodom (sexual immorality), the place Lot raised his girls, also became the teacher for their moral compass.  Lot’s willingness to live in the city and be “Okay” with all that it offered affected the principles of his daughters.  Lot should have considered who was watching him and learning from his lifestyle and actions.  Scary, isn’t it?  It makes me think, “What kind of teacher is my life to my children?”  How about you?

Keep standing up for what is right and just,

Rod

This entry was posted on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 9:04 am and is filed under Destination: faith, InTheLoop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.