12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
The visitors gave Lot instructions to go and get the rest of his family who are in the city and leave. They told Lot that the city was about to be destroyed, so he had to act fast.
We have been told that the time is short, that the earth will one day be destroyed, that Jesus is coming back one day, and that we must go and tell others and warn them, so that they can be safe from all of the harm that is coming when God's judgment finally comes down.
When Lot went out to do what the angels told him to do, his sons-in-law laughed at him and dismissed him as being a crazy old man. They ignored him.
Sound familiar?
Time was shorter, still. The next morning, they could wait no longer. The angels told Lot to take his wife and two daughters that he had with him and leave immediately!
But, Lot didn't immediately take action. He knew and heard what the angels were saying, but in his mind, he must have rationalized that there was still time.
Don't we all do that?
Praise God for His mercy! The angels took Lot and his family and dragged them outside of the city. They had no chance to pack or anything. It was time.
When you are sanctified, set apart to be a part of God's family, God will take action when you don't! You may not have all you could have had, had you taken action when warned, but at least you will be safe!
They told Lot and his family to run for their lives and not look back. They were told to flee to the mountains.
But, Lot was afraid of the mountains, so he petitioned the strangers to let them go to Zoar, a small city on the plains, instead.
The Angel of the Lord agreed not to destroy that small little city, for Lot's sake.
But, Lot needed to go NOW, because he could not enact his destruction until Lot was safe.
Sometimes, when you are ripped out of the life you once knew as "normal", it is not because you have done something bad, or that God is punishing you. It could be that God needs to get you out of there so He can work to punish and destroy anyone who stands against Him. Sometimes, what seems like God's wrath in your life is actually God's protection of you.
How many times in life have you looked back at your past, only to say, "I am so glad God brought me out of all that! It was hard, but I am so glad to be here today, and not there!"
No comments:
Post a Comment