“Bad Boys of the Bible: Lot”
Genesis 19:1
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Winter was coming, or so the story goes, so a hunter went out to the forest to shoot a bear from which he planned to make a nice, warm fur coat. And before long, a bear came out of the woods, right towards him, so he raised his gun to shoot.
But just as soon as the bear saw the hunter, he said, “Wait! Why ever would you want to shoot me?”
The hunter replied, “Because winter is coming and I need a nice, warm fur coat.”
The bear answered, “What a coincidence, because I was looking for a good meal before winter comes myself. Maybe we could sit down and work out a compromise.”
So the two of them sat down together to talk. And sure enough, a few minutes later, the bear walked away with a full stomach and the hunter had himself a fur coat.
Or think of a family from New York that bought a ranch out West where they intended to raise cattle. When a friend came to visit, he asked if the ranch had a name.
“Well,” said the would-be cattleman, “I wanted to name it Bar-J. My wife wanted Suzy-Q, one son liked the Flying-W, and the other wanted the Lazy-Y. Since we couldn’t make up our minds, we decided to call it the ‘Bar-J-Suzy-Q-Flying-W-Lazy-Y Ranch.’”
“But where are all your cattle?” asked his friend.
He answered, “None of them survived the branding.”
Compromise. It’s a way to settle differences by mutual concession. It happens when two people give up something they want, to get something they don’t really want. Still they do it to find some common, middle ground.
But compromise, as good as it is, as sometimes necessary as it is, has a dark side. What most would say is a “win-win” situation for both, suddenly becomes a “lose-lose” situation for all. So it was for a man named Lot.
The Bible, God’s Word, means to teach us and to tell us of the lives of both men and women across the years. There are many important and amazing people like Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, Daniel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul. And as we read their stories, and learn of their great strengths and weaknesses, their victories and disappointments, their fears and failures, we can’t help but compare them to our own.
And in addition to those who are so familiar, there are many who aren’t so familiar, like this man named Lot. But he is one from whom we can learn so much.
So what do we know about him and what can he teach us?
In the early 1900s, pastor and author Clarence McCartney described him as, “The man who loved the world so much that he lost it.” And he wrote, “There are few characters in the Bible who impress you as not altogether given over to the dominion of evil, nor yet loyal to the right. To this class belongs Lot, who had enough righteousness to abhor the iniquities and infamies of Sodom, yet loved the world so much that he chose to live there.” In other words, for whatever reason, Lot lived smack in the middle of good and evil, but couldn’t quite choose either one.
The first we hear of him is in the book of Genesis chapter 11. It’s there that we read about a man named Terah and his three sons Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran had a son named Lot. And, so it seems, Haran died young, so grandpa Terah and Uncle Abram took little Lot under their wings. Then, a few years later, when grandpa Terah died, Uncle Abram was still there to watch and care for him.
Then in Genesis 12, when the Lord called Abram to move to Canaan, the Bible says Lot went with him. And, over time, both Abram and Lot became quite wealthy in silver and gold, livestock and herds.
But there was a problem. Apparently, since each had so many flocks and herds, their sheep and cattle were competing against each other for the same grass and the same land. In time, it became such a problem, Abram’s men and Lot’s men couldn’t get along.
So Abram sat down with his nephew Lot and said, “Let there be no strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine. We’re relatives, we’re kinsmen. Let’s get along.” And he said, “Lot, if you want, I’ll go to the left and you go to the right or you go to the left and I’ll go to the right. You choose. It’s entirely up to you.”
And when Lot looked out to the east and saw the lush, green grass of the Jordan valley, “watered like the garden of the Lord,” he chose to move there. So off he went with his sheep and cattle, his flocks and herds.
There was just one problem, one really big problem--the neighbors. Sure the grass was green and the ground was well-watered. But of all places, Lot’s pasture land lay in the shadow of Sodom and Gomorrah, the very last place any good, God-fearing man would want to be. It was so bad, the Bible says, “The men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.”
Now we don’t know how great or how wicked, but we can guess. If their sin was anything like the sin recorded in Genesis chapter 6, their every thought “was only evil all the time.” Or think of the words of Romans chapter 1: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Finally, there was nothing God could do but abandon them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.
Today, we can’t help but ask, why, Lot, why? Why did you, of all people and of all places, choose to live there? Did you say to yourself, “I’m not like those people in Sodom and Gomorrah. I can handle this”? Or did you think you would be immune to their depravity? Or did you believe, somewhere deep inside, that you could influence them for the good?
We may never know. But what we do know is that, at first, he pitched his tent near Sodom. A few weeks later, he bought a condo downtown. A few weeks more, and he was on the town council. And before anyone could say, “Lot, what were you thinking?” he was living in Sodom-central. And worst of all, not only was he living in Sodom, but Sodom was living in him.
Do you remember the story? Two angels came to see if it should be destroyed, and Lot took them to stay in his home. And when night fell, when all the men of the town, both young and old, gathered outside his door, Lot was afraid for their lives.
So what did he do? He shouted out his front door: “I beg you, my brothers, to not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please.”
“I have two daughters…Do to them as you please”?! What kind of man, what kind of father, would do anything so despicable and cruel?
Then, to make matters worse, what might be the most telling point of all, when morning broke, and the angels urged them to leave the city, they said, “Get up and take your wife and your two daughters, lest you be swept away when the city’s punished.”
Then what? It’s the worst three words that could ever be spoken of a man’s life. The Bible says, “But he lingered.” He dawdled. He waited. He held back.
Why? Because he loved Sodom and he loved the people of Sodom. They were his friends, his neighbors, his co-workers, and the fellow members of the city council. Here was the good life that he and his wife shared. Here were his sheep and livestock, his flocks and herds. Here were all the pleasures of his world.
But, as one author put it, “When the boat is in the water, that’s good. But when the water is in the boat, that’s bad.” And when Lot hesitated, his boat full of water, he was nearly destroyed because of it.
So what does all this mean to teach us?
Simply this—whether we like it or not, we’re not as far from Sodom as we think, from the people and places that invite us and encourage us to compromise. The invitation is simple. The encouragement is subtle. Great and wicked Sodom is seldom far away.
And like Lot of long ago, we face the same temptation. It seems we no longer blush at sin. Sin doesn’t seem so sinful anymore. And ever so quietly and subtly, just like Lot, we’ve grown accustomed to evil.
But just because the world says it’s good, just because our nation says it’s good, does not make it right before God. And any nation or city or people that tolerates it will come under God’s judgment. As one preacher put it, “If God doesn’t judge us soon, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Sin is not a myth. It’s not some fantasy or figment of our imagination. It’s real, so real, it sent God’s Son, our Savior Jesus, to the cross. And there, on that cross, He died to pay the price for our sin. And there’s nothing more real than that.
In his book, A View from the Zoo, author Gary Richmond tells about the birth of a giraffe. He said, “The first things to emerge are the baby giraffe’s front hooves and head. A few minutes later, the plucky newborn calf is hurled forth, falls ten feet, and lands on its back. Within seconds, he tucks his legs under his body. From this position, he looks at his world for the very first time and shakes off the last vestiges of birthing fluid from his eyes and ears.
“The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she positions herself directly over her calf. She waits a minute, then does the most unreasonable thing. She swings her long, pendulous leg outward and gives her baby a gentle, but firm, kick.
“Then, when it climbs up onto its feet, what does she do? She kicks it again.” Why? He said, “She wants it to remember how it got up.”
You see, in the wild, baby giraffes have to get up as quickly as possible to keep up with the herd. To lions, hyenas and leopards, young giraffes are a favorite food. And they’d get it too, if the mother didn’t teach her calf to quickly stand up.
There are trials and temptations of all kinds that will knock us down, that will shake us off our feet. Still, through it all, we have a God who urges to walk with Him, in the shadow of His care.
When Jesus faced the darkness of Gethsemane, He could have compromised and found some common, middle ground. Instead, He prayed, “Father, not My will, but Thine be done.” When Caiaphas asked, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” He answered, “I am, and You will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.” When Pilate asked, “So You are a king, then?” He answered, “For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world.” And when the crowd cried, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself,” He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Jesus did not compromise. He would not compromise. He perfectly obeyed all the Father asked Him to do.
And so should we, always living in the shadow of His care.
Nearly four hundred years ago, Johann Heermann put it like this: “If the world my heart entices on the broad and easy road with its mirth and luring voices, let me think upon the load Thou didst carry and endure that I flee all thoughts impure, banishing each wild emotion, calm and blest in my devotion.”
Help us, dear Father, to learn the lesson of Lot. Grant that we, by Your Spirit, may stand firm in our faith, always trusting and believing in Your strength and care. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen