Don’t linger!

Do you remember the story of Lot? He was told by angels to get out of Sodom as it was going to be destroyed by God of its wickedness. What did Lot do? He lingered.

Genesis 19:16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

My first thought was Lot must not have been a very godly man if he lingered here but look at this verse:
2 Peter 2:7-8 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);
That verse says Lot was righteous so he was a godly man. So why did Lot linger?

One thing we do see from the verses in 2 Peter is that the wickedness did bother Him greatly which is a good sign. If we can be around wickedness and it doesn’t bother us then something is bad wrong!


Why did Lot linger? Perhaps he cared greatly for some of the people there and did to want to leave without them. Perhaps he may have been disgusted by the sins of the people but grown to overlook it. Perhaps his wife liked it there and did not want to move so Lot did not want to rock the boat with her. Perhaps Lot still likes the pastures for his flocks and did not want to leave the pasture land. Perhaps Lot thought he could still win some hearts to the Lord but up to this point it appears he had not done so in many years of dwelling there. It even appears he had little effect on his own family!

We can only speculate why lot lingered but we can see ourselves in many of the actions of Lot, and it is a warning to us not to linger in a place of wickedness. We are responsible for our families walk with God and we need to make a difference there and then move outside our family walls and make a difference there as well.

It is interesting note we know very little about lot after he left here and arrived at Zoar. He was declared righteous in the 2 Peter verses we read before but it appears other than being right with God He did little else! I believe this is also a warning to us because if we did not have the 2 Peter verses we may just declare Lot was a lost man but that it not so!

Let us not linger but be a mover and a shaker for the Lord!

Tom