Though Lot was a righteous man, he lived in the wicked city of Sodom and was compromised in his association with sinful men. He had become comfortably surrounded by sin. Abraham prayed for the Lord to spare Sodom if there ten righteous people remained. These could not be found; only Lot. Judgment was inevitable. When men wanted to act immorally with his guests, he offered his daughters for immoral behavior. To protect them, God blinded the perpetrators of sin. When angels came to lead him out of the city, he lingered (Genesis 19.16). The Lord, through his angelic servants, then rescued Lot from destruction. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and brought them out (19.16). God’s mercy is never short. They would not have left on their own; this was God removing them from the bondage of sin and giving them freedom from judgment. 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” (19.17). All desire for their previous life, all desire for sin, all desire for what they were leaving behind was to be gone, eradicated, removed. They were to begin their lives new, in view of God’s righteousness and mercy.
May we know the Lord’s abhorrence of all sin; may we recognize its diametrical opposition to the Lord’s holiness; may we have a fleeing attitude toward all sin, never to look back. Sin will bring judgment. Our sin took Jesus Christ to the cross to cleanse us of all sin and set us free from sin. Though undeserved, God, in His grace and mercy takes us, seizes us, and leads us out of sin that we might live new in His righteousness, that we might not be bound by the deception of sin and its horrible consequences. God, in His protecting care is now able to keep us from bondage. May we be found desiring His holiness, His presence, His strength to resist all forms of temptation, always.
Seized by God’s grace – we have much to be thankful for –
Terry
My Morning Desk 