Remember Lot's wife. Luke 17:32
Lot's decisions-
Choice of wife.
Choice of location of home.
Choice to move into city of Sodom for short-term ease and apparent advantages and security over long-term benefits and the approbation of God.
When they moved into Sodom, Sodom moved into them.
Sodom was very sinful, which brought with it increased risks.
The wealthy cities of Sodom and Gomorrah became targets of unwelcome attention.
There was a decrease in personal safety because of the increased social unrest, immorality, crime etc.
The religious life suffered as a result of their surroundings and they became BUSY – Burdened Under Satan's Yoke – in the social whirl and money making that went with being accepted in these worldly circles.
But life is fragile, especially in a city.
The city was invaded by a consortium of kings. Lot and his family found themselves kidnapped and carried away captive. They were rescued by his courageous, God-fearing, healthy, prepared, generous, uncle, Abraham.
Even after this frightening experience they did not heed the warning, but rather went back to their old life in the city. Their judgement, decisions and moral perception were all affected by the environment in which they chose to live.
The warning came to Lot, his wife and family, that the city was to be destroyed. They were told to “escape for thy life”. Lot was slow to respond to the warning. His family did not want to leave. Eventually the angels took them by the hand and led them out of the city, instructing them to head for the safety of the mountains. Even at this point Lot was slow to react, pleading to be allowed to go instead to a smaller city not far away. This he was permitted to do but on the way “one of the fugitives ventured to cast a look backward to the doomed city, and she became a monument of God's judgment. If Lot himself had manifested no hesitancy to obey the angels' warning, but had earnestly fled toward the mountains, without one word of pleading or remonstrance, his wife also would have made her escape. The influence of his example would have saved her from the sin that sealed her doom. But his hesitancy and delay caused her to lightly regard the divine warning. While her body was upon the plain, her heart clung to Sodom, and she perished with it. She rebelled against God because His judgments involved her possessions and her children in the ruin. Although so greatly favored in being called out from the wicked city, she felt that she was severely dealt with, because the wealth that it had taken years to accumulate must be left to destruction. Instead of thankfully accepting deliverance, she presumptuously looked back to desire the life of those who had rejected the divine warning. Her sin showed her to be unworthy of life, for the preservation of which she felt so little gratitude.” Ibid 161,162
“The wife of Lot was a selfish, irreligious woman, and her influence was exerted to separate her husband from Abraham. But for her, Lot would not have remained in Sodom, deprived of the counsel of the wise, God-fearing patriarch.” PP 174
“The marriage of Lot and his choice of Sodom for a home were the first links in a chain of events fraught with evil to the world for many generations.” Ibid 174
Thank you Lord. I will “remember Lot's wife.”
“Suddenly and unexpectedly as would be a thunder peal from an unclouded sky, the tempest broke.” PP 164
