Sermon Tone Analysis

“The angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up!

Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’

But he lingered.

So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

And as they brought them out, one said, ‘Escape for your life.

Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley.

Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.’

Lot said to them, ‘Oh, no, my lords.

Behold, your servant has found favour in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life.

But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.

Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one.

Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and

my life will be saved!’

He said to him, ‘Behold, I grant you this favour also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.’

Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

“The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”[1]

Lot built his life on compromise.

In this, he was not unlike many contemporary Christians.

Even while the world as he knew it was moving inexorably to a catastrophic conclusion, he attempted to compromise his values and his life as a worshipper of the Living God.

The text before us exposes his effort to preserve life as he wanted it to be; it also reminds us of the high cost of compromise.

Christians can learn a great lesson through reviewing Lot’s compromise and what it cost him.

*Forced Evacuation* — Recently, forest fires in Kelowna have forced many families to leave their homes on very short notice.

Some people reported that they had two minutes to evacuate.[2] Forced evacuations are painful for those who must leave everything—often on extremely short notice—to flee for their lives.

Lives are disrupted, security is threatened, the emotional toll is great.

As we read the account of the forced evacuation for Lot and his family, we are at first moved with a sense of compassion, knowing the disruption and emotional trauma they were experiencing.

However, it is difficult to continue such generous feelings toward Lot when we remember that he placed himself in jeopardy; the divine intervention was a mark of mercy for one who had refused to accept responsibility for doing what was right and honourable.

That Lot tarried, even after the danger was evident, is apparent from even a casual reading of the text.

After the threat from hostile townspeople and his rescue by the angels dispatched to the city, Lot was told the purpose of their visit.

“We are about to destroy this place,” they announced, “because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it” [*Genesis 19:13*].

Accordingly, Lot was told to warn any family members to leave with him.

Perhaps Lot was moved in part by the peril he had just faced, but he urged the men pledged to his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city” [*Genesis 19:14*].

I must wonder whether his future sons-in-law had been part of the mob that had threatened Lot the night before, since the divine text is quite specific that “all the people to the last man” [*Genesis 19:4*] compassed his house during the night.

It is likely that not all the men of the city were homosexual, but all approved, at least tacitly, of the practise, and we must concede that Lot’s daughters’ fiancés were probably included in the pack that stalked the visitors on the evening before.

Nevertheless, to his sons-in-law, Lot appeared to be joking [*Genesis** 19:14b*].

He was sufficiently agitated during the night that he pleaded with the men pledged to his daughters, yet, when the morning dawned the angels were compelled to urge Lot once more to leave.

“Up!

Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city” [*Genesis 19:15*].

The divine text pointedly notes, “But he lingered” [*Genesis** 19:16a*].

Moreover, Lot’s indecision had an impact on his wife and daughters, for the angels seized him together with his wife and two daughters [*Genesis** 19:16a*], apparently dragging them outside the city.

The text suggests that they used force to compel them to leave the city.

This forcible evacuation was a mark of the Lord’s mercy [*Genesis 19:16*], though it compelled the angels to override Lot’s resistance.

As they were pushing and dragging the four reluctant evacuees out of the city, one of the angels said, “Escape for your life.

Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley.

Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away” [*Genesis 19:17*].

The situation was desperate as judgement for the city was pending, held back only by Lot’s presence.

As an aside, we need to realise that when God ignores our protests and compels us to act, it is not an evidence of lack of concern for us.

Though we fail to recognise what He is doing, when God ignores our desires, it is a mark of His divine mercy.

Were God to give us all our wants, He would be irresponsible.

There is one instance that stands out in Scripture when God gave His people what they craved, but the result was not what they thought it would be.

The account, found in the Psalms, provides an analysis of an event that occurred during the Exodus.

The incident in view is recorded in *Numbers** 11:4-35*.

The biblical account relates how “the rabble” that accompanied Israel out of Egypt were craving meat.

Their incessant complaining spread—as complaining often does spread—until the former slaves were also complaining.

Though God had fed the entire group in the desert, they did not like what God provided, and so they complained.

Ultimately, the continual carping drove Moses to the point of utter frustration, and upon presenting his worry to the Lord in prayer, God intervened.

The Lord did send the people meat in the form of quail flying low above the camp as a strong wind blew them along; and apparently when exhausted, the birds fell beside the camp.

All the people were able to kill quail, and each person gathered at least six bushels of birds.

However, the grumbling had displeased the Lord, and he killed many of those who complained.

The divine text reads: “While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague” [*Numbers 11:33*].

The event made an indelible impression on the survivors; they named the place where all this had occurred “Kibroth-hattaavah”—graves of craving [*Numbers 11:34*].

Of the people’s demands and God giving them what they asked, the Psalmist wrote:

“He gave them what they asked,

but sent a wasting disease among them.”

[*Psalm 106:14*]

The impression was imprinted permanently on the mind of the Israelites; in the *78th Psalm* Asaph gives an extended warning based on the same incident.

“[Israel] sinned still more against [the Lord],

rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

They tested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

They spoke against God, saying,

‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness?

He struck the rock so that water gushed out

and streams overflowed.

Can He also give bread

or provide meat for His people?’

“Therefore, when the Lord heard, He was full of wrath;

a fire was kindled against Jacob;

His anger rose against Israel,

because they did not believe in God

and did not trust His saving power.

Yet He commanded the skies above

and opened the doors of heaven,

and He rained down on them manna to eat

and gave them the grain of heaven.

Man ate of the bread of the angels;

He sent them food in abundance.

He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,

and by His power He led out the south wind;

He rained meat on them like dust,

winged birds like the sand of the seas;

He let them fall in the midst of their camp,

all around their dwellings.

And they ate and were well filled,

for He gave them what they craved.

But before they had satisfied their craving,

while the food was still in their mouths,