Read with Me
Genesis 19:23-29 (HCSB)
The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar. Then out of the sky the LORD rained burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD. He demolished these cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground. But his wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.
Early in the morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the LORD. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw that smoke was going up from the land like the smoke of a furnace. So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when He demolished the cities where Lot had lived.
Listen with Me
No sooner had Lot gotten inside the gates of the village of Zoar, God poured out His wrath on the other four cities of the plain. His wrath took the form of burning sulfur pouring out of the sky, burning up everything, buildings, people, and animals, leaving behind nothing but ash.
Many have tried to come up with a natural explanation for this fire from the sky. But none is needed. God passed judgment on the inhabitants of those cities, and He destroyed them in His own way. No natural volcanic eruption was necessary, because God can produce burning sulfur from the sky out of nothing. Besides that, those seeking a natural explanation have a hard time explaining how a massive volcanic eruption could be targeted so that it destroyed four of five cities, but left the fifth completely untouched.
Even though four people were led out of Sodom, only three entered the gates of Zoar as the sun climbed high into the skies. Despite the warnings not to turn back once they had started, Lot’s wife did just that. Despite all she had seen, she refused to believe that God would truly destroy the whole city, and at some point, she refused to go on, turning back to her home and friends back in Sodom. This was not a reflexive look back as the destruction fell. The fire did not fall until Lot in his family had arrived at Zoar as God promised. This was rebellion and defiance. Lot’s wife did not make it very far before God’s judgment fell on her, and she froze in her tracks, transformed into a pillar of salt.
Abraham could see the smoke rising out of the valley high into the sky even from his campsite in the hill country further to the west. But he walked over to the start of the descent, the place where he had spoken with God the previous evening, and he peered down into the inferno to try to tell what was burning and what, if anything, had been spared. But all he could see was smoke.
Pray with Me
Father, Lot’s wife is a tragic figure. She had seen everything unfold, had been led by the hand out of the city, and had been clearly told that the city was going to be completely destroyed along with everyone remaining in it. But her heart refused to let go of what she was leaving behind, refused to move forward into a redeemed life. Instead she insisted on holding onto what she had grown accustomed to, even though that was a life lived in the midst of astounding wickedness. And all she got for her loyalty to that old life was that she shared in its destruction. How hard it is for us to let go of our old lives in order to fully take up the new life you offer us in Jesus! How longingly we tend to look back at what we must “sacrifice”, to leave behind, in order to live for You. We must choose. And we often don’t realize until too late that if we choose our old life, our life lived in the midst of sin, it will lead inexorably to our destruction. Lord, help us to follow You completely out of our old lives and into the new life You offer us in Jesus. Amen.