QT 9/15/2025 Gen 19:23–29, Looking to God for his will

Genesis 19:23–30 (ESV) —

23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.

 

 

NOTE: God saves Lot and his two daughters and the city of Zoar. In the very next verse (30), Lot moves to the hills as the angels had initially told him too. No reason is given, but how very true it is, that God's wisdom is always better than ours. Lot's wife could have been saved (physically) too, but she, in contradiction to the angels' command, looks back, and dies with those in the cities.

 

The phrase, God remembered Lot, uses an anthropomorphic term, "remember," not because God forgets or even could forget, but rather to emphasize Abraham's prayer for Lot. Lot did not pray, Abraham prayed for him. Peter writes that Lot was a righteous man, greatly distressed by the conduct of the people. But Lot chose his 'lot' in life. Why? Sin is so deceitful and it can become like a thorn bush that grabs onto you as you go by. It does not want to let go. How did this happen? Lot made a decision based on what he saw, not on the will of God. He never sought God. He was a rich man when he lived near Abraham, and now he had nothing.

 

PONDER:

1. How often do I seek God in the major decisions of life?
2. Going further, do I seek God in the lesser decisions of life? It does not have to be much, a simple prayer for guidance or closed doors will suffice

 

PRAYER: Father, this is a sad story of a man who started out well, but was pulled off the path by the appeal of riches. Father, I want to serve you first and foremost, in major decisions and minor decisions. Lead me and guide me. Help me to know what is the right thing to do.