Good Host, Bad Father
Opening Prayer
Gracious Lord, keep open the ears of my spirit to hear Your voice, but keep me deaf to the voices that call me away from You.
Read GENESIS 19:1–14
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”
“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“[Lot] said, ‘Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!’ But his sons-in- law thought he was joking” (Gen. 19:14).
Think Further
There are many similarities between the meeting of these messengers with Lot and their meeting with Abraham; there are differences, too. Abraham was sitting by the door of his tent, Lot by the gateway to the city. Both men have similar reactions to meeting the messengers and bow down on the ground before offering them hospitality. Arguably, both showed exemplary behavior as hosts, though Lot went on to make some foolish decisions. It was surely to protect his guests that he shut the door behind him, leaving himself exposed to the city dwellers, and it was certainly to guard the guests against harm that he offered his daughters instead. The guests whom he tried to protect, however, ended up protecting him and his daughters by means of the miraculous.
It is dangerous to argue from the Bible’s silence, but it is noteworthy how often rebukes are absent when we might expect them, as is the case here. It is encouraging that, despite his foolishness, Lot was not excluded from the righteous whose cause Abraham had pleaded. Lot is not the only person to have started well but then made bad or hurtful decisions; it is only by God’s gracious forgiveness and deliverance that we can continue on the original path.
It seems that in these passages people have trouble taking God’s words seriously. Abraham and Sarah laughed at God’s promise of a son in old age and now Lot’s future sons-in- law laugh at the thought of having to flee from destruction (14). It is on this bleak note that we end today’s reading. They were warned, but they did not run. If we are not among those who laugh at judgment, then we can perhaps take Abraham’s example of interceding for others to pray for those who do.
Apply
What examples does Lot give you to follow? What examples does Lot give you to avoid as you seek to follow Jesus in a sinful world?
Closing prayer
Dear God, You can do far beyond what I can imagine. Forgive me for the times when I doubt Your call to me. By Your power, enable me to respond obediently to Your voice.
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