Do You Need to Move?

As I was reading in Genesis the other day, the thought occurred to me – what if we looked at Lot’s family as intercessors? Follow me for a few moments as we walk through the story.

 

When Lot left Abraham, he settled outside of Sodom; but by the time God tells Abraham His plans to destroy it, Lot has moved into the city (Gen. 14:12). We know why God says He’s going to destroy it: “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous” (Gen. 18:20).

 

The question that struck me was, who raised the cry? It is certainly possible that it was others, perhaps travelers who were assaulted during their stays. But a little more study led me to 2 Peter 2:8, which says of Lot: “That righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard.”

 

Hmmm. Now, let’s go a bit further down this road. We all know that Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back; and we probably have all heard the accompanying warnings against looking back to our past lives or sins. But what if something else was on her mind?

 

Have you ever had to walk away from someone you loved because they continued running after destruction as you were moving away from it? Can you still feel the tears streaming down your face as you pleaded with God for their rescue? Do you remember how your heart shattered as you forced yourself to walk away?

 

What if Lot’s wife wasn’t looking back at the wicked city, but at the children she had watched growing up? What if she just couldn’t leave without one more heart-wrenching plea for the people she had poured her life into, day after day?

 

How easy it is for us to stand outside a city, a church, a nation, and point towards it saying, “God, go do something about that wickedness.” Yet Lot moved his family from outside the city to inside, and remained until commanded to leave by the very angels of God.

 

Could we find that kind of compassion inside of us? Willing to live tormented by the evil consuming the people around us, yet unwilling to leave so long as God lets us stay, raising up a cry for their rescue? Allowing our hearts to become so intertwined with them that we'd rather die than leave them?

 

Does that sound too extreme for you? Lot moved from outside the city to inside. As our intercessor, Jesus moved from Heaven to earth.

 

Is there somewhere you need to move?

 

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).