I was reading in Genesis today, through parts of chapters 17, 18, and 19. There are lots of great lessons to be learned from that passage; Abraham meeting with the LORD (which is the basis for Doug Small’s excellent sermon ‘Entertaining God’), Abraham interceding on behalf of the righteous in Sodom, God promising to give Abraham and Sarah a son, and also the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. A few verses stood out to me in particular today; a section of dialogue between Lot and the angel after the angel told Lot to leave Sodom and head into the mountains. Genesis 19:19 – 20 reads as follows: “…I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my sould shall live.”
So, what is Lot trying to do here? God gave him a direct order to leave the plain and take refuge in the mountain, but Lot is trying to compromise. He is willing to obey God and leave Sodom, but he won’t go so far as the mountain. I find it almost comical how he tries to justify himself twice by saying ‘it’s just a little one’. We find out later in the verse that the city is named Zoar. Now, what happens next is interesting. Lot is allowed his compromise, and he heads to Zoar, which he assumes is ‘safer’ than the mountain. Yet, this is what we find by verse 30 of the same chapter: “And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.”
What’s this??? The very place that Lot had insisted would be safe is now so dangerous that Lot is fleeing to the comparative safety of a mountain cave!!! What a clear example of how our own wisdom is folly in comparison to God’s. I hope I remember daily that it is safer to be in the mountain where God leads than to dwell in the Zoar of our own compromises, no matter how ‘little’ they may be.
Proverbs tells us over and over that God’s wisdom is superior to our own. Proverbs 14:12 says quite plainly, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”And chapter 3 verse 5 says tells us to “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” The story of Lot teaches us that it is wise to follow God immediately and completely, and to avoid compromising for Zoar.
