Read with Me
Genesis 19:1-3 (HCSB)
The two angels entered Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at Sodom’s gate. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground and said, “My lords, turn aside to your servant’s house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and go on your way.”
“No,” they said. “We would rather spend the night in the square.” But he urged them so strongly that they followed him and went into his house. He prepared a feast and baked unleavened bread for them, and they ate.
Listen with Me
Lot had moved into the city with his family several years earlier, leaving his vast flocks and herds in the surrounding fields under the care of his servants. But even though he lived within the protective walls of the city by choice, he had no delusions as to the character of the people who lived alongside him (2 Peter 2:7-8).
It was a frequent practice for travelers to come into the protective walls of a city just before sunset when the gates would be closed. Within that more secure location, they would build small fires and lay out their bed rolls in the town square, the large open area just inside the gates. Most travelers were self-sufficient, needing only a place where they could sleep and where they could prepare and eat some of the food that they traveled with or bought in town before the shops closed. So, these two strangers entering town not long before sunset was nothing unusual.
But Lot knew that the people of Sodom were wicked, desperately so. And because of that, it was not safe for anyone to stay in the town square after dark. Many had been robbed, murdered, raped, or taken captive, and the local authorities, just as corrupt as the rest, turned a blind eye to such goings on, and sometimes even took part in them. So, when Lot saw these two men come into town, he sprang into action, inviting them to stay at his own home, a much safer place. Lot did not sense that these two were anything other than travelers. He had invited numerous others before them to share his home overnight.
It took some convincing. They seemed insistent on spending the night in the most dangerous place in town. Lot had no idea that that was actually part of their plan. It is not the pretty, made-up face that a city puts on for the tourist trade that is the reality. It is the nighttime face, the face scoured of makeup, when all the bad people have the potential to come out and ply their dark trades that show what a city is at its heart.
But it was exactly that face of Sodom, the true face, that these divine messengers had come to see. It was on that basis that God’s judgment would be made most accurately. But, because of Lot’s of persistence, and with God’s permission, they allow themselves to be persuaded to take advantage of Lot’s hospitality.
Pray with Me
Father, many city leaders might take exception to Your statement that the nighttime face of a city is its true face. No matter how pretty and secure-looking a city is in the daytime, if the residents feel compelled to lock their doors tight at night amid the sound of gunshots and sirens and reports of horrible events happening overnight, that can’t be considered a truly beautiful and safe city. Sadly, is the same with people. Many people know how to keep their daytime face, with stylish makeup, a pleasant expression, and a polite tone of voice visible in our guarded moments. But when we let our guard down, when we are with our family members or our close friends, the mask comes off and the real us can be seen in all its glory or all its foulness. And no matter how nice the makeup we might wear when we are “on”, it is that unmade-up, unmasked face that shows who and what we really are. Lord, I know that I used to be one of the most skillful masqueraders ever, only letting the real me, the coarse, harsh and sometimes cruel me, be seen by my close family in a few friends. But when I surrendered to Jesus, You changed all that in a moment, making the real me someone who doesn’t have to wear a mask, but who can be who I genuinely am every moment of every day. Thank You, Lord, for Your transforming power. Amen.
— God bless you all! Pastor Will
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