Problem with Sin
This morning we read chapters 19-21 in Genesis. We can see that in the times since Lot dwelt in Sodom until now, the priorities of man have changed, in some ways, and the sins of man remain the same.
First, we read about how the lusts of the flesh cause the men throughout Sodom to want to defile the angels who were staying in Lot’s house. We see angels sleep as they had entered his house to do so. Homosexuality was a sin in those days, as it is now. God does not change. Cultural acceptance does not dictate what is right. The people in Sodom throughout the city felt this was acceptable, but it was still sin and for it, they were all punished. God’s mercy spared Lot and his family from the wrath he poured out on those cities.
Smoking
Lot’s wife looked back, and God turned her into a pillar of salt. This reminds me of when I gave up smoking. I began smoking when I was ten years old. My parents smoked, therefore cigarettes were always laying on the table. In those days, commercials on TV and billboards made smoking seem sexy. You wanted to be the Marlboro Man. You knew rugged men would walk a mile for a Camel.
Even facing death from cancer, looking cool was too irresistible to pass up. You might cough the first few times you try it, but you kept doing it until you got good at it.
We didn’t smoke any of those wimpy menthol cigarettes, either. It was Winston because they were the sponsors of NASCAR, or Marlboro or Camel.
I would go through two to three packs a day, though some of that was while I was tending bar and I would light a lot more than I would smoke. In those days not only could we light up at work, but in a bar the air was so thick with smoke that you were going to be inhaling it, anyway.
They had to do a tracheostomy on me when I had my accident and I watched the respiratory technician suction the fluid from my lungs. It was a mixture of blood and mucus and tar. Black disgusting looking sap being extracted through the clear tube. I remember thinking I would never smoke again.
Within a year of leaving the hospital, I was back up to a pack, then two packs a day. It was comforting. I knew it was not good for me. I didn’t care.
After turning my life over to the Lord, I was working through some tough financial struggles, trying to keep my magazine alive. I was praying for the Lord’s help, and I realized I was asking for financial help while spending money on these foolish sticks that I was no longer enjoying.
Jesus Gives Us Repentance
So I prayed, Lord Jesus, please take this sin away from me. Let me be a better steward of the resources you have provided.
I have not smoked since, that was over two decades ago. Not saying I haven’t watched as other people in my life have lit up and I wanted to. But the Lord has given me resolve not to pursue this sin. I am not saying smoking is a sin for everyone. The Bible doesn’t address it. Because I had made it into something important, for me it was.
Priorities
Getting back to today’s chapters, it is all about how we prioritize things in our life. In these verses, we see Lot will give his virgin daughters to the men to be raped. Their safety and purity were less valuable than protecting these angels, or perhaps than permitting the sin of sodomy.
We see this disturbing situation in chapter 20, where Lot’s daughters get their father drunk and have incestuous relations with him, and become pregnant. This should be unthinkable today.
We see Abraham lie again about Sarah being his sister so that Abimelek takes her for his wife. Thankfully, in that situation, God intervenes and prevents her from being defiled.
Then compared to all of this sexual deviation, to the value of a well. For which Abraham will give seven ewe-lambs to signify and binding agreement on whose they are. Granted, in a desert, water is life. We see with Hagar and her son how important water is. Without water, life does not exist.
Application
But the dichotomy between how little they valued the safety of their children, the virtue of their daughters, the sanctity of their marriage versus the rights to a well makes me question some things we elevate to great importance in our own lives. Are we willing to follow God’s will for a life? What if that might compromise our income? Would it matter if that required we forego our favorite pastimes and leisure activities?
I often warn against the idolatry of self, what are you placing above your commitment to the Lord today? Ask Him to remove it, and if you will repent, watch what God can do. For those who want to see God at work, this is an intimate way to see Him.
