Lingering In Our Sin
Reading: Genesis 19
My Verse: "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" (19:16).
This an amazing chapter concerning Lot and the incredibly sinful city he chose to live in. One wondered how he was able to continue living there. It had to be an incredibly vile place! You, LORD God could no longer abide the crimes of the people and "because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it" (19:13). So, yes, it had to be vile. And yet when the angels told Lot to leave because it was going to be destroyed, Lot lingered. He was reluctant to leave this place.
How often do we do that very thing? Like the Israelites looking longingly back to Egypt at the "good" things they had there, we too sometimes have selective memories of the past, the past when we were without You, LORD God. This brings to mind the words of an elder of my home town. At this gathering someone started talking about how it was so much better back in the 'good old days'. This elder immediately spoke up and said. "Pshaw! You can have those 'good old days'. I like my automatic washing machine and out-board motor and refrigerator and freezer! I am glad those good old days are gone!" We all laughed of course. But how we need to be reminded that life without You in it is anything but good! Lot seems to have forgotten what it was like to have You in his life. He lived amidst this sinfulness so long he had come to tolerate it and so lingered.
That is a scarey place to be. Yet that is where so many of us are. I just heard a story on the radio the other day of a Catholic college that offered a psychology course that dealt with aberrant behavior. Listed in the aberrant behaviors was homosexuality. Of course, there was a huge outcry against them. The school even had some kind of rating taken away from it because of this "intolerant" viewpoint. The spokesperson for the outcry against the school said that because the American Psychological Association (APA) determined that homosexuality was no longer aberrant the school was wrong to call it so. And yet, here You, LORD God, destroyed two cities because of this sin.
Your Word is very clear on what is sinful. I believe that we all know in our heart of hearts what is truly wrong. We are after all made in Your image. No matter how we try to rationalize that what we are doing is okay we still know that it is not. And yet, because we want so much to have our own way and not admit You as LORD we continue to lie to ourselves.
Oh, LORD God, I thank You for Your Word. "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31).
I thank You for the presence of the Holy Spirit. You gave us a promise. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezekiel 36:27-27).
We do not need to linger and become tolerant of sin as Lot did. With him You were merciful by phsyically moving him out of harms way. This You continue to do for us by reaching out to us - reminding us everyday of Who You are through the world around us, through Your word and through the Holy Spirit. Thank You.
"For His merciful kindness is great toward us; and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD" (Psalms 117:2).
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
Reading: Genesis 19
My Verse: "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" (19:16).
This an amazing chapter concerning Lot and the incredibly sinful city he chose to live in. One wondered how he was able to continue living there. It had to be an incredibly vile place! You, LORD God could no longer abide the crimes of the people and "because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it" (19:13). So, yes, it had to be vile. And yet when the angels told Lot to leave because it was going to be destroyed, Lot lingered. He was reluctant to leave this place.
How often do we do that very thing? Like the Israelites looking longingly back to Egypt at the "good" things they had there, we too sometimes have selective memories of the past, the past when we were without You, LORD God. This brings to mind the words of an elder of my home town. At this gathering someone started talking about how it was so much better back in the 'good old days'. This elder immediately spoke up and said. "Pshaw! You can have those 'good old days'. I like my automatic washing machine and out-board motor and refrigerator and freezer! I am glad those good old days are gone!" We all laughed of course. But how we need to be reminded that life without You in it is anything but good! Lot seems to have forgotten what it was like to have You in his life. He lived amidst this sinfulness so long he had come to tolerate it and so lingered.
That is a scarey place to be. Yet that is where so many of us are. I just heard a story on the radio the other day of a Catholic college that offered a psychology course that dealt with aberrant behavior. Listed in the aberrant behaviors was homosexuality. Of course, there was a huge outcry against them. The school even had some kind of rating taken away from it because of this "intolerant" viewpoint. The spokesperson for the outcry against the school said that because the American Psychological Association (APA) determined that homosexuality was no longer aberrant the school was wrong to call it so. And yet, here You, LORD God, destroyed two cities because of this sin.
Your Word is very clear on what is sinful. I believe that we all know in our heart of hearts what is truly wrong. We are after all made in Your image. No matter how we try to rationalize that what we are doing is okay we still know that it is not. And yet, because we want so much to have our own way and not admit You as LORD we continue to lie to ourselves.
Oh, LORD God, I thank You for Your Word. "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31).
I thank You for the presence of the Holy Spirit. You gave us a promise. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezekiel 36:27-27).
We do not need to linger and become tolerant of sin as Lot did. With him You were merciful by phsyically moving him out of harms way. This You continue to do for us by reaching out to us - reminding us everyday of Who You are through the world around us, through Your word and through the Holy Spirit. Thank You.
"For His merciful kindness is great toward us; and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD" (Psalms 117:2).
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
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