A Study In Genesis 19:17-38 [You will need your Bible]
ZOAR – “Zoara,” the biblical Zoar, was previously called Bele (Genesis 14:8), and one of the FIVE “cities of the plain” – a pentapolis apparently located along the lower Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, plainly mentioned in the Book of Genesis and other Bible passages as well.
Regardless of your opinion of the JUDGMENT of Sodom and Gomorrah, you have to admit that it was a tragedy and a trauma to the three known survivors.
TRAGEDIES HAPPEN.
Your character determines how the substance of a trauma directs your life.
A large event has energy attached to it and it can propel you. Yet the direction in which it propels is mostly up to you.
As an illustration, in the Columbia tragedy over the Texas sky on February 1, 2003, the stunned NASA officials who tearfully spoke of Columbia’s horror, were not hesitant to remind the watching world that it wouldn’t stop adventures into space. In fact, the tragedy actually spurs on the survivors of the team to continue with greater vigilance and excellence.
A natural response to TRAGEDY/FAILURE/LOSS is to withdraw, to reduce. This response shows up in the characters of this study in Genesis 19:19 –
[19] “Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.” [NIV Bible]
The FIRST FOCUS of Lot was: “I CAN’T” –
Then in Genesis 19:20 (NIV)
[20] “Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it–it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”
AND, the FIRST FALLOUT of “I Can’t” is, it ties up God in the process.
Lot had a bent toward little. (ZOAR means “little”).
SURPRISE! Divine Behavior isn’t natural! “I don’t want to go there!”
(Genesis 19:20 NIV)
[20] Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it–it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.
(Genesis 19:30 NIV)
[30] Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
In each move (vs. 19, 30), Lot’s motivation was FEAR.
- It was FEAR for the angels’ well-being, not hospitality, that motivated Lot to invite them overnight. [vs. 2-3]
- It was FEAR that caused Lot to wrongly offer the COMPROMISE of his daughters as an appeasement to the mob that appeared at his front door.
- It was FEAR of change that made Lot almost late in leaving the city, “when he hesitated” (vs. 16)…and the angels took him out of the city.
Lot was AFRAID to make a LIFESTYLE CHANGE and his wife’s hesitance made her infamous.
“REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE” – Jesus’ words (Luke 17:32) as He explains to the disciples what it will be like on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
Lot’s issue was to still be in a ‘city’. Afterall, he was an urbane man–a ‘city’ kind of guy. You know the old expression, “You can take the boy/girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy/girl.” Well, in Lot’s case, I’m going to change one word: “You can take the boy out of the ‘city’, but…”
Lot and his family had earlier been abducted in a military raid on the city and had been rescued by his uncle Abraham. Even then, Lot and his family remained in Sodom.
The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 2:7 that Lot was considered a RIGHTEOUS MAN and that the behavior of the people of Sodom infuriated him (“distressed him” – NIV).
There’s a terrible silence when it doesn’t tell us how he acted on his infuriation…his ANGER, his DISGUST, to the surrounding culture. Maybe it was out of fear. In fact, Scripture reveals that Lot assimilated into his culture, even as what might have been called, a city leader in Sodom.
Often, city leaders, government officials, would be positioned at the gateways of the town. (19:1) Sort of like members of the local Chamber of Commerce for the city–a standout in the community; a civic leader. Someone you would know if his name appeared in the local newspaper or the church bulletin.
Lot’s thinking over time took him to the place where he believed he could not live away from a town.
Living in SIN will blind you to true reality and cause you to start believing the cultural LIES!
EXAMPLE: “Quit fighting it! Cultures change over time, so you might as well just accept the changes!”
Has FEAR of LIFESTYLE CHANGE blinded your thinking into believing a false reality?
FEAR WILL MOTIVATE YOU TO MISS BLESSED OPPORTUNITIES –
Lot was afraid that he couldn’t live in the mountains (vs. 19), but the irony is, he had spent years living a prosperous life in the mountains with his uncle Abraham. If he had gone to the mountains as the angel(s) had said, God would have provided again, perhaps to restore to prosperity.
Moving to the same mountain later, however, after the open opportunity presented itself, wouldn’t recapture a prior promise.
LIFEPOINT: Delayed OBEDIENCE is NOT Obedience!
Sometimes, you can press God and get what you desire (or think you did, anyway!). But sometimes the worst thing you can have is to have your own way.
An illustration came to mind of an old episode from the TV series, The Twilight Zone: “The Man in the Bottle”. It’s where the man gets 4 wishes from a genie and the last wish being Hitler in the bunker.
“We Better PRAY First.”
In 1980, I was given the job opportunity to relocate from Southern California to the Grand Pacific Northwest. My wife and I both decided this was a good move for ourselves and the family. No state income tax, clean air, beautiful green trees, etc. And yes, we better pray about it too. We had already made our minds up that pulling roots up, leaving friends and family behind was what God must want for us. “But we better pray first!” Did we get what we desired? For the most part, we did, in spite of being disobedient in relational PRAYER first.
IF YOU AREN’T TRANSFORMED, LIVING IN LITTLE WILL LEAD YOU TO LESS –
Genesis 19:14 (AMP)
[14] And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will spoil and destroy this city!” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be [only] joking.
Genesis 19:30 (NIV)
[30] Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
The ROOT of the Hebrew word for CAVE is “naked”, that is, to have nothing.
The Lot who went to Sodom was a wealthy rancher, with herds and servants. He was a man who walked with God, who had a young family and a bright future.
The Lot who left Sodom was a man whose light-weight LIFESTYLE had made his spiritual impact on those close to him seem like a joke.
He fled from there an impoverished, fearful widower, finding himself now as the single parent of two daughters who had lost their finances when their life was literally obliterated!
Living with SIN in your life will slowly strip you of your stuff, trample your treasured possessions and parch your purest pleasure–your relationships.
Words determine your THINKING; Thinking determines BELIEF; Belief incites EXPECTATION; Expectation forecasts ATTITUDE; Attitude is what motivates BEHAVIOR. It’s BEHAVIOR that creates the outcome. (John Maxwell)
LIVING IN LITTLE, STAYING SMALL CAUSES PEOPLE TO…settle for the way things are–to base their lives on the low levels of circumstance and customs.
John Maxwell and the man who went to the fortune teller (45 years of misery then you’ll just get used to it.).
Genesis 19:31
THE GIRLS, Daughters of Lot…
Lot’s daughters chose to settle for what was, to make do with what was convenient, rather than BELIEVE God for what was right.
FAITH doesn’t deny reality but believes beyond reality.
Remember, just because a thing can be, doesn’t mean it should be. Basing our lives only on our circumstances and customs results in our destiny being directed by SIN.
And when you start in SIN you launch its CAREER–and the consequence to follow can be far-reaching.
The offspring of this conspiracy to commit two counts of aggravated sexual assault and incest (the modern charges that would have applied) were TWO NATIONS of people who became enemies of God’s people, a major influence in their perversion of WORSHIP (idolatry).
Ultimately, the DESTRUCTION of the nation of Israel and the termination of a PROMISE of God, ” a nation of priests to bless the world” (19:6).
God has also in His plan made us as true believers in Christ Jesus to be “A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS” to serve God (Revelation 1:6).
It all started when a FEARFUL MINDSET of ‘living in little’ wasn’t transformed.
At the time of this writing in The Book of Genesis, they knew of MOAB and AMMON but had not interacted with them as enemies, yet.
Thoughts lead to BELIEF…to EXPECTATION…to ATTITUDE…to BEHAVIOR…to PERFORMANCE.
Here is another way of putting it:
James 1:13-16 (AMP)
[13] Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one.
[14] But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions).
[15] Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.
[16] Do not be misled, my brethren.
If you’ve been reading all of this and convicted in making a move…from living in little, settling for small, then it’s time for a change in direction.
IN STOPPING SIN IN YOUR LIFE!
You need to move out of the “Little”, and not leave your forwarding address. Quit basing your life on CIRCUMSTANCE and CUSTOM, get out of staying in SMALL, being mentally naked.
I will look forward to reading your REPLY on your decision and desire for transformation in the COMMENT section of this page.
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CREDITS ~
John C. Maxwell: 50 Inspirational John C. Maxwell Quotes, by Addicted2Success
The Columbia Tragedy: Wikipedia.
PHOTOS: Google Image search.
Bible Translations: New International Version (NIV); Amplified Bible (AMP), or where noted.
The WORD Detective 