Righteous Lot

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

I'd really never thought of Lot as an exemplar of the faith.  He obviously
had his eye on his own financial advantage when his uncle Abram gave
him the choice of grazing-land (Genesis 13:1-11).  Although Abram was
his elder and his mentor, Lot was quick to grab the best-looking pastures.

It's unimaginable in our time, though not remarkable in the hospitality
ethic of his; but Lot also offered his daughters to the rape-mob demanding
he turn over his angelic visitors to them (Genesis 19:1-11).

And though Lot could truthfully later plead that he was stone-drunk when it
happened . . . we usually don't expect the Bible to hold up an incestuous father
(Genesis 19:30-38) as a role-mode.

But II Peter 2:7 does, calling him "righteous Lot."  That verse came to mind
when my friend Don and I were talking.

That passage even goes on to say Lot was an exemplar for Christians.

" . . . and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the
depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among
them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless
deeds he saw and heard); if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue
the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the
day of judgement."    (II Peter 2:7-9)

Lot's righteousness was that he was "distressed" (the Greek is kataponeo,
"worn down," "exhausted") by the evil deeds of the "lawless" among whom
he lived.  It doesn't seem to have bothered his fellow-citizens all that much.

I doubt that's because every single citizen of Sodom roamed the streets all
night getting drunk and looking for a rape-victim.  Every society needs a core
of responsible fathers and mothers raising their families, working jobs, and
running businesses, to flourish.

Sodom undoubtedly also had civic leaders who shaped public opinion and
guided public policy.  They probably lamented the crime-statistics: but no
doubt they also boasted that Sodom's way of life was justified by the fact
it enjoyed more "freedom" than other cities.

Most people in Sodom probably accepted lawlessness as "just how Sodom
is," and locked their doors.  Like people today, they were willing to "go along
to get along."  Undoubtedly they prided themselves on being "good people,"
and nothing like the street-gangs.   But scripture attests that only Lot was
"tormented" to his soul by the cit's pervasive evil.

Lot's lonely righteousness was that he was deeply grieved by the lawlessnes
of his fellow-citizens...grieved as God Himself was grieved.  This scripture is
God's promise, exemplified in Lot, that He will still "rescue the godly" . . . by
whom He means those few (like Lot) whose souls like His are fiercely outraged
by the evil deeds of the lawless.

God's promise holds good today, for everyone whose heart is like His, and is
His . . . however few they are.

Amen !