Hurry, Lot!

 Hurry, Lot!

The time for the destruction of Sodom had come. 

Lot was to go out of the city with his family. But he lingered. He loved his possessions a lot and had some relatives who did not want to go with him. In a way he was bound to Sodom, even though he hated the culture.

The angels who were with him to bring him out however wanted  to instill a different spirit in him.

They emphasized that he should hurry and not even look back. Every cord to that city had to be broken, even if it was hard. No hesitation should be displayed, but there should have been a full confidence in God and the prioritizing of following His warnings and commandments. 

His overly strong love for his possessions which is revealed in his lingering and the fact he chose to live here as seen in Genesis 13 had to be fought against. And his family had to do the same thing.
The judgment was coming soon and knowing Lot’s weakness they told him to hurry in multiple instances:


[Gen 19:15-22 NKJV] 15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city." 16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed." 18 Then Lot said to them, "Please, no, my lords! 19 "Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. 20 "See now, this city [is] near [enough] to flee to, and it [is] a little one; please let me escape there ([is] it not a little one?) and my soul shall live." 21 And he said to him, "See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. 22 "Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.


God was merciful to Lot and he brought him out of the city by his angels. But he still had to flee and escape to another place without looking back. Of course, this wasn’t just about literally moving the head in the direction of Sodom. They were not supposed to look back to Sodom with a sense of loss and secret desire. They were to hurry and get out. Sodom was a doomed city and they were to have no part in it.

Lot had to realise this and it seems he did afterwards. He fled without looking back and so did his daughters.

But one family member seems to have taken the same spirit as the lingering Lot of earlier. She, however, brought it to an extreme where God simply had to intervene.


[Gen 19:26 NKJV] 26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.


Some people might be very strongly connected with their old life. They may not have to leave every part of it like Lot, but if they had to they wouldn’t be able to do it without looking back.

But even the stuff they do have to leave, sin, is often not properly left. They indulge a secret desire, they act on it and look back. This is natural. We can easily be way too attached to earthly stuff. 

But we are told to hurry. When it is needed, do not even look back. Do not touch any unclean thing. Get out of there immediately and leave whatever is necessary. 

This is the psychology of Lot and unfortunately, moreso, his wife.


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