Last week, I told the story of me “acquiring”—stealing—some change to buy three “fancy” pencils (totaling $0.75). As a child, I didn’t understand why they were making such a big deal about it. It was only 75 cents, and only three pencils. My attitude was if they had gotten me one of those fancy pencils, I would not have taken the money. I believed that if I had received those pencils, things would have been different. Oh, the mind of a child, right?
But we can do the same thing. We decide “the line” where what we want becomes sin. Oddly enough, that line is always past what we’re doing. Like children, we believe that the Judge of all the earth won’t bother punishing us over “small sins” when others are committing “big sins.”
That attitude is much like Lot’s attitude in our ongoing journey in Genesis. The angels, taking Lot and his family, forced them out of the city and told them (Genesis 19:17b), “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
Let’s continue in Genesis 19:18-26.
18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! 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. 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 19:18-26, New International Version
21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Isn’t it odd to you that Lot is arguing with his rescuers? The lives of his family members were at stake. His own life was also at risk. Yet, he argued AGAINST what they told him to do. The reasons are logical, but they represent a disregard for the Lord’s commands to him.
And that’s my point: Lot reasoned, “Why can’t I sin just a little bit? After all, it’s only $0.75 of sin—not millions of dollars of sin. That little bit of sin in that city is not worth destroying!”
As shameful as this request was, it was sincere. It was earnest. Lot’s request was entirely self-motivated. It was his fear. It was another demonstration of his lack of faith.
The contrast between Lot and Abraham is striking:
- In faithlessness, Lot’s life is marked by self-serving.
- In faith, Abraham’s life is marked by positively responding to the call of God.
The angels tolerate Lot’s request and grant it. He and his company go to the city of Zoar (which means “small”) instead of the mountains.
As the sun rose, they had reached Zoar, and the Lord rained down His punishment on the cities on the plain. Lot’s wife, however, was a casualty of the fleeing. She looked back on the destruction and was turned into a pillar of salt. This certainly sounds strange to English-speaking ears, but it becomes a little clearer in Hebrew.
Considering Lot’s wife is not mentioned before Genesis 19, it is safe to conclude she was a Soddomite. It is possible she was part of the “women” Abram rescued in Genesis 14:16. In either case, her namelessness implies her value. She “looked back” when the angel had warned them not to. Looking back meant her affections were still there.
The point is not that she became a pillar of salt; it is that she looked back. She did what she was expressly told not to do. By doing this, she revealed her desire to be like the people of that city.
The book of Genesis implies that the present desolate aspect of the Dead Sea plain should remind us of this act of divine judgment. It stands as a testimony of God’s perspective on sin.
How much sin do you have to commit before God takes it seriously?
Any and all of it.
If we could be “good enough” to get by, the cross of Jesus wasn’t needed. His sacrifice paid for our sins—whether we think of them as big or small.
May we be faithful in preaching the message of hope and grace. We share it with a world that doesn’t even know it needs it. And as Hebrews 10:24-25 commands, “24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Life Meets Theology 