The Fall Exposes Depravity: Genesis 19:12-22
Even when we chose another path, God’s desire is for us to walk with Him. God has an infinite capacity to forgive. This is good, because occasionally I feel like I have an infinite capacity to sin! The only limiting factor for God’s forgiveness is our desire to repent. No matter how frequently we sin, if we repent and come back to him, we can all be people after God’s own heart.
When God’s messengers tell Lot to warn the people he loves and run away, Lot immediately goes to the houses of his married daughters and warns them. Unfortunately, his daughters and sons-in-law think he is jesting and ignore him.
Lot demonstrates his character again. He sticks around. He rose when he first heard the threat from God’s messengers, but he couldn’t get motivated enough on his own to leave. He lets his love for his worldly life convince him to remain in danger under God’s wrath!
Morning comes and Lot is still around. God’s messengers warn him again, but this time he doesn’t even panic. The shock of the threat has worn off; his love for his worldly life has grown firm. He lingers.
The only reason God spares Lot because God’s messengers physically remove Lot, his wife, and his two unmarried daughters. God’s messengers save Lot and his family. In the end, Lot’s love for his stuff – and his ability to accumulate stuff – is greater than his desire to save his life. Even so, Lot still hasn’t descended far enough to reveal the depths of his depravity.
God’s messengers instruct Lot to flee into the hills. They give him the perfect advice to set him back on a righteous path. Instead of listening, though, Lot chooses another path. Lot can no longer imagine himself living apart from the world. He asks for enough time to go to another city. Lot doesn’t want to trust God and live according to God’s ways. Lot wants to live in the world and trust his own ability to accumulate wealth.
God lets Lot follow the desires of his heart. He can only warn us so many times. He can present us with a good path so many times. He knows when our heart is set against His ways and unwilling to listen. He will let us follow our own course when we prove our heart is hard. He lets Lot go to Zoar.
Fortunately, when God lets us go, He doesn’t let us go forever. We may turn our backs on Him, but He does not turn His back on us. No matter how much we’ve wandered and how far we turn, He is always willing to receive us back and help us learn who He is and what He wants for us. We don’t see this in the story of Lot, but that doesn’t make it untrue. Even when we chose another path, God’s desire is for us to walk with Him.
