He Who Hesitates...

The angels God sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah have gone home with Lot. So far, so good. However, things are about to take an extremely disturbing turn:

WHAAAT?

Now welcoming, feeding and providing a cozy bedroom is one thing, but I’m left speechless at the idea of a man offering his daughters to a gang of thugs and rapists to protect a couple of strangers he has brought under his roof. The only observation I can make here is that hospitality is more than just extending “warm fuzzies.” When Lot took in these guests, he assumed responsibility not only for their comfort but also their protection.

I don’t imagine the majority of my guests (or yours) are likely to need anything extreme in terms of physical protection, but what example does this set for us in making sure that the spiritual and emotional “climate” within our homes is a positive one?

Anyway, back to Lot, who offers his two virgin daughters in attempt to appease the men of Sodom…

But the men of Sodom weren’t having it. They weren’t listening to reason or anything else and now, like a pack of rabid wolves, they’re ready to turn on Lot.

This mob is about to learn the hard way what we already know- Lot’s guests were not your average passersby…not by a long shot!

So much for the the plans of that gang of bullies.

The angels tell Lot who they are and the purpose for which they’ve been sent and warn him to get his people out of the city and Lot, in turn, warns the men engaged to marry his daughters.

Heartbreaking.

What a desperate feeling it must have been for Lot to know the destruction about to overtake these loved ones yet lack the power to save them.

As all parents learn from their children (if they haven’t already learned it from someone else) it’s hard to sit back and allow someone we care about to make a mistake. It’s tough enough when kids are young, the mistakes small and the consequences not very serious.

But we get older. “Harmless” childhood choices become serious adult decisions, and sometimes the wrong ones can carry devastating and lifelong consequences. When despite all of our love, desire, and best efforts, we are unable to save someone from his or her own bad choices, we have no choice ourselves. Having to stand by helplessly and watch tragedy unfold is soul shattering.

Lot couldn’t afford countless hours of effort to convince the fiances of a truth they didn’t want to see, and he couldn’t afford to fall apart in grief over their disastrous choice or his inability to protect them.

He had to let go of those who wouldn’t listen, those he couldn’t help, in order not to lose the ones he could.

Maybe that’s a good lesson for us. Whether it be some relationship or some other area of life in which our best doesn’t seem to be enough, maybe we have to know when to let go of the griefs, the rejections… the negatives that we can’t control in order to accomplish the positives that we can.

He Who Hesitates…

Preparation time has passed; it’s time to run and Lot does exactly what I so often do in a moment that calls for swift, decisive and drastic action. He hesitates.

Does anyone else have that problem?

We’re apprehensive about letting go of the familiar… even if what we’re clinging to is the very thing that can destroy us. We hesitate to say goodbye to things or people, even toxic ones, even though God offers us freedom and urges us to grow beyond them.

The known may be ugly or unfulfilling, but we waver about trading it in for the unknown- no matter what beautiful promises it holds.

I don’t know why we are so reluctant, but apparently we aren’t alone.

Thanks to the grace of God, he who hesitates isn’t always lost.

So many times God has drug me “kicking and screaming” out of a place I didn’t need to be because I didn’t have the sense to take myself away. There’s no telling how many times I’ve been rescued from disaster I didn’t see coming only because His mercy was stronger than my resistance and the force of His love greater than the force of my fear.

God’s determination to lead Lot to a place better than the one he was in was Lot’s salvation. That same determined mercy is also ours. Where would any of us be without God’s relentless pursuit of our good?

I hope you are in a place of peace and contentment in your life, but if you aren’t…if you find yourself struggling or stressing over something, whether it be something within your control or something outside of it ( I’m not always sure which is more difficult) I hope you feel His hand reaching out and holding on to yours.

Whether He’s leading you out of an old dark place, through an uncertain place, or to a new place of promise you have yet to see, take the hand He extends to you and trust in the love that will never you go.

Until next time, Kim