Things Written Aforetime For Our Learning - Gleanings From Genesis

by N.D.W.Miller | Category: For Young Believers | Jun 1936

Coming now to the account which God gives us in chapter 19. "the two angels came to Sodom at even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom." Darkness was coming on-the night was. falling. When Lot saw the Angels he "rose up to meet them and he bowed himself with his face to the earth; and he said

" Behold, now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night." His words ill-befitted the occasion. How different to Abraham's receiving of the LORD and His Messengers. Only after the most urgent entreaty did the Angels accede to his invitation. "They said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night." What a reflection upon Lot and his entire manner of life! And then, when they did enter Lot's dwelling "he made them a feast (so unlike Abraham's 'a little water,' and 'a morsel of bread') and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat." Can you believe the Angels feasted? I think the - only thing they ate was the unleavened bread. And even then, they got little or no peace, for the night of Lot's feast was marred by the lawless intrusion of the men of Sodom. How true it is, that "Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith, than a house full of feasting. with strife " (Proverbs 17. 1, and see, too, Proverbs 15. 16, 17).

I am constrained to digress, and record an incident about a dear old woman, who, living in a remote and rather wild part of a country district, found on a December festive day that she had nothing on her table for dinner but a piece of bread and a cup of water. A Christian, thinking of the old lady on that day, went about mid-day to take her something. He found her already seated at her table and just about to partake. Being very deaf, she did not hear the footstep, and as her visitor stood, and looked, and listened, this is what he saw and heard. With eyes closed, and hands clasped, she proceeded- "0 God, I thank Thee for these gifts of Thy love on this happy day. Thou hast given me this, AND CHRIST." Surely a picture of the peace of God which passeth all understanding, and of that godly contentment which is, indeed, great gain.

On the night of Lot's feast "the men of Sodom compassed the house round," causing Lot to expostulate "My brethren. do not so wickedly," and to descend to a suggested level well-nigh as low as themselves. It is well he had rescuers at hand, who "brought Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door," at the same time smiting the men that were at the door with blindness. What a contrast is all this to Abraham's peaceful tent, with its "vision," and its "fellowship."

"Hast thou here any besides?" was the now urgent call of the heavenly messengers. "Whomsoever thou hast in the city; bring them out of the place: for we will destroy this place, because the cry of it is waxen great before the LORD and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." It was then, when "Lot went out ... and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy the city," that, alas, "he seemed unto his sons in law as one that mocked." But, although his whole life-work in Sodom was a denial of the truth of his urgent appeal, he was not mocking-it was solemnly true. There was no time to lose. "And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity (or punishment) of the city." Terrible awakening! His interests-his whole life-work-to be consumed amid the fire of God's anger. And yet, even then, "he lingered." His heart was in Sodom! But "the LORD being merciful unto him," the men "laid hold upon his hand .... and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." The change here from "they" to "he "-" he said, Escape "-is noteworthy. "The LORD being - merciful unto him." Had the LORD again joined His Messengers? Was He standing by, as if directing operations? It seems so. "The Lord knoweth how!" (2 Peter 2. 9). It took much to arouse Lot. His procrastination was amazing-" Oh, not so, my Lord: behold now, Thy servant hath found grace in Thy eight, and Thou hast magnified Thy mercy .... in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die: behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one : oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one ?), and my soul shall live."

The mercy shewn here reminds me of the words-" I AM GOD, and not a man." Truly the God of Patience, whose longsuffering is salvation. He said to Lot, " See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither." Thus the LORD magnified His mercy to Lot, and saved him. Saved ! But it seems as a distant foreshadowing of 1 Corinthians 3. 15 -" saved, yet so as through fire."

"The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came unto Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." Thus God turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, and "condemned them with an overthrow," making "them an example unto those that should live ungodly" (2 Peter 2. 6, 7). Lot's wife was evidently of Sodom-her heart was there

-so much so, that though warned-" Look not behind thee," she took one last fond look. She "looked back from behind him," and, solemn thought, " she became a pillar of salt." Tragic and fearful end! Thus, as a red light-a danger-signal -

upon the line of life--comes the Divine warning from that far distant past-" Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17. 32). Now, what may we glean in summing up ? We might ask-How did Lot's residence in Sodom affect himself-his inner life? 2 Peter tells us. "He tormented (R.V.M.) his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds." He had no peace of mind; nothing but distress and torment all the time. It was a sad and disastrous day when he turned his back upon Abraham.

And then, What about his family? how did it affect them? The later history of Lot's family can scarcely be told. "He dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters." Drunkenness and incest marked the sad and bitter end of " that righteous man."

Then again, Was his life in Sodom any help to the inhabitants? He perhaps had "good intentions" in that direction; but, sad to say, they never materialized: there is no indication that his life in any way served as an antidote to counteract the evil around. The man who almost succeeded in saving

Sodom was the man with "tent" and "altar," living in the place of separation. Lot lost his all-his peace; his influence; his wife; everything: so that we scarcely need to ask what he gained! There is little doubt it was gain he was after. But what is the searching and solemn truth? Lot entered Sodom a rich man. He came out a pauper. "Success" which leaves God out of the bargain, is disastrous.

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart,

And lean not upon thine own understanding:

In all thy ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3. 5, 6).

N.D.W.Miller | Jun 1936
For Young Believers