Not Chosen for Merit

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Opening Prayer

Father, I long for a touch of Your mercy, an experience of Your grace, a sense of Your unconquerable love.

Read Genesis 19:15-29

^[15] With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” ^[16] When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. ^[17] As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” ^[18] But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! ^[19] Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ^[20] Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it-it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” ^[21] He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ^[22] But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.) ^[23] By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. ^[24] Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah-from the LORD out of the heavens. ^[25] Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities-and also the vegetation in the land. ^[26] But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ^[27] Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ^[28] He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. ^[29] So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Prayer is eternity in the midst of mortality, life among death, hope amidst despair, true promise surrounded by lies. So let us pray unceasingly” (Henri Nouwen).

Think Further

Jesus compared the day Lot left Sodom with Noah entering the ark (Luke 17:26-29). Many phrases occur in both stories, emphasizing the comparison. There is even “rain” here, although it’s burning sulphur that’s falling (24). In each instance, God comes to look, and passes judgment. Whole communities are destroyed, but one family is rescued. In the flood story, “God remembered Noah” (8:1) described as a righteous man, blameless and walking with God (6:9). Here God “remembered Abraham” (29) who was blameless and walked before God (17:1). So what is the verdict on Lot?

Having seen the majestic power of the angels, Lot trusts them enough to go with them but he appears to drag his feet. Their command, “take … your two daughters who are here” (15) may imply that other married daughters are being left behind. Lot does not willingly accept the order, “Flee to the mountains” (17). He negotiates with God to save Zoar. His motives seem very self-centered, in contrast to Abraham’s plea for all the cities, but his request is granted. God often seems to answer prayers that are less than admirable, perhaps to encourage weak and wavering faith. Lot’s wife is even less eager to accept the angels’ instructions. “Two people will be in one bed,” Jesus said; one will be taken and the other left (Luke 17:34). Lot’s wife was trying to save the things that seemed to constitute her life, and she lost what really mattered–her walk with God and, ultimately, her life.

When Abraham saw smoke rising from the plain (28) it looked as if his prayers had been futile–but angels had dragged Lot into faith, and that faith saved him. Peter declares him one of the “righteous” (2 Pet. 2:6,7). Abraham’s prayers had something do with this (29).

Apply

Be encouraged to keep praying for people whose faith seems shaky and shows little fruit. You may never know how those prayers have been answered.

Closing prayer

Lord, teach me to pray. It seems at times as if there is a satanic conspiracy keeping me from prayer. Give me a hunger and a discipline for prayer.

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