Title: LOT—A MAN OF PUZZLEMENT
Focus: Learn from Lot and marvel at the way of God.
Function: To warn and to encourage the people to live by faith and deep trust in Christ, the Son of God.
Texts: Genesis 19:30-38; Nehemiah 13:1-2
Jewish legend has it that the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon and gave him a riddle. See if you can solve the riddle. The queen said to King Solomon: “A woman spoke to her son: ‘Your father is my father, and your grandfather is my husband; you are my son, and I’m your sister.’ Who is this woman speaking to her son?” asked the Queen of Sheba. King Solomon knew the answer. Do you? The woman speaking to her son is one of the daughters of Lot.
The riddle of the Queen of Sheba really underscores that Lot is an enigma—a man of puzzlement. The riddle exposes the sordid story of Lot and his two daughters in a mountainous cave in the desert near Zoar. Lot’s story today boggles the mind and confronts us with pain. But the story also gives us hope—hope in God’s wondrous ways with his people. That’s why I say today: learn from Lot and marvel at the ways of God!
For the last 23 years I’ve observed and entered the pain of many parents and grandparents who grieve for their sons and daughters and grand children over their unfaithfulness or wanderlust or rebellion against God. As a parent, I too, know the anxiety or prayer concerns we share when our children turn their backs to Christ and his church. I ache when I see young people neglect to worship God, neglect to nurture their faith, and ignore the encouragement and warnings of their parents and peers to live a life of faith and trust in God, rather than seeking a life of ease and unbelief.
I am
troubled when I hear grown-ups say: “I believe in God and in Jesus Christ.
But I can do without the church! I will live a good life and I will worship God
in my own way! I don’t need the church!”
And I am baffled that so many people do not learn from the observation that those who withdraw from regular church worship, those who ignore the practice of spiritual disciplines—such as prayer and bible study—end up wandering away from the Christian faith.
So many end up like Lot—in a cave—a cave of spiritual restlessness, of emptiness, of loneliness and of disappointment. The fire of faith cannot burn and give warmth and life and comfort if you withdraw from the fellowship of God’s people and from the instruction and good news found in the Scriptures. Learn from Lot! He is a troubled man. Lot’s soul is tormented because on the one hand he knows what’s right and what pleases the Lord his God. But on the other hand, Lot likes to do his own thing; Lot likes to pursue his own ways; and in the process, Lot makes choices that lead to spiritual ruin and destruction.
Lot baffles me; he is a man of puzzlement. And if you ask me to summarize his life story, I would say: “The way of Lot NOT!” The way of Lot is a dead-end road. And were it not for God’s wondrous grace in Lot’s life, Lot’s story would be dismal. But here is the good news: Lot may rule and he has to live with the consequences of his choices. But God can overrule and bring something beautiful out of a ruined life. That’s why I say: Learn from Lot and marvel at God!
LOT’S STORY—A PICTURE OF “HOW NOT’
Today we are looking at the last snapshot of Lot’s story. The first picture (in Genesis 13 and 14) showed Lot as a man of shadows. He lived in the shadow of his uncle, Abram—and there Lot’s future seemed so promising. For Lot flourished spiritually and economically together with Abram. But we also noted that, apart from Abram, Lot’s own actions cast a shadow on his relationship with God and on his very own future.
The second picture of Lot’s story confronted us with a perilous escape. God poured out his judgment on the Plain of Jordan--where you find the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot with his wife and two daughters. This snapshot of Lot’s narrow escape from fire and brimstones shows Lot as a man of conflicts. Torn by his love for prosperous city living on the one hand, and by his faith in Abram’s God on the other hand, Lot lived with torment in his soul. Spiritually, Lot was not a happy camper in Sodom. But the lush Plain of Jordan offered Lot so much earthly comfort that he had trouble giving it up.
It was only because of the intercessory prayers of his uncle, Abram, and by the grace of God that Lot was saved, together with his two daughters. He lost his wife, however. The man of shadows is a man torn by inner conflicts. Lot’s story, then, moves from a promising future with Abram to a perilous escape from Sodom.
The third picture (in Genesis 19:30-38) reveals Lot as a man of puzzlement. And this final snapshot of Lot’s life shows us a disappointing finish. Whenever Lot lives in the shadow of Abram and God’s promise to Abram, Lot prospers; but when he moves away from God and God’s promise to Abram, Lot’s prosperity goes downhill—from Canaan to Sodom to a cave. Surely, the entire story of Lot’s life is one big picture of “How NOT” to live as men and women of faith. Learn from Lot!
From Zoar to a Cave:
The last picture of Lot leads us to a cave. When God poured out his wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah, he told Lot to flee to the mountains, to the wilderness, but Lot argued with God and suggested to God that Zoar (a nearby hicktown) would be good enough for Lot and his family. Roaming around in the wilderness is not Lot’s idea of living life. God answered Lot’s prayer and gave him freedom to flee to Zoar.
But it turns out that Zoar is a scary place. The text says that Lot “was afraid to stay in Zoar” (vs. 30). What’s going on? Are the people in Zoar shunning Lot? Are they giving Lot a hard time? Are they perhaps puzzled why Lot and his daughters escaped the fires and brimstones while the rest of Sodom and Gomorrah perished? Could it be that the townspeople of Zoar worry that a similar judgment or disaster would fall on them if Lot and his daughters stay in their midst? Or could it be that Lot came to his senses and realized that he had been a fool to argue against God’s command to flee to the mountains rather than stay in the city, even if it is as small as Zoar?
We can only speculate, but it’s clear that Lot and his daughters moved to a solitary place in the nearby desert, to a mountainous region where they found a cave and settled down.
Lot, may I ask you some
questions? Why did not you go to Abram, near the trees of Mamre? Why did
not you turn back to the promised land? To the embrace of Abram and to the
umbrella of God’s covenant love for Abram and all his descendants, including
you, Lot?
You prospered in the shadow of
God’s covenant promise to Abram and his family. Lot, at one time Abram saved
you from exile and slavery, and you could return to Sodom. Recently you were
saved by God’s grace and by Abram’s intercessory prayers and pleas with God on
your behalf. Why, then, Lot, did you go to this cave instead of Abram’s bosom
and the bosom of Abram’s God? I know that the story teller says that you were
afraid to stay in Zoar, but was it pride, shame, feelings of guilt, or stubbornness
that led you to this cave?
From Being Sober to Drunk:
From the
Bible we learn that Lot is a righteous man, tormented in his soul. That’s not
obvious from the pictures of Lot as found in the book of Genesis. But the Holy
Spirit gives us insight into Lot’s soul when we read in I Peter 2:7ff that God
rescued Lot, “a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of
lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was
tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)….”
Let’s be clear: what happened in the cave between Lot and his daughters was not Lot’s idea. Some have accused Lot of incest, of sexually abusing his daughters. But the Scriptures argue against that notion.
For example, in the entire story about Lot and his daughters in the cave, the storyteller is careful to protect Lot. Lot may have his faults, but he is a righteous person—he will not voluntarily choose to violate his daughters. And his daughters know that. That’s why they need booze to assist them in their desire to create offspring or a family line for themselves. Listen to the older daughter speaking to her sister: “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
Now to be sure, Lot is responsible for drinking booze to the point of becoming completely “sauced.” But he would not have impregnated his daughters by his own will. For Lot is a righteous man—he knows enough to know that such an act violates God’s will.
Do you remember Noah? He was a righteous man (Gen. 6:9). But Noah, too, ended up drunk one time. His youngest son, Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. They—Shem and Japhet—“took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness” (Gen. 9:22ff). When Noah—a righteous man—found out what his sons had done, Noah cursed Ham and blessed Shem and Japhet. That’s what Noah did.
Lot, may I ask you some
questions? Did you ever tell your daughters about Noah and his sons?
Lot, as you raised your daughters, together with your wife, did you emphasize
God’s call for righteousness and purity?
Lot, here’s what puzzles me so
much about you: You are a righteous man. And I believe that without the booze
you would never have impregnated your daughters. But why were you so quick to
give up your daughters to be raped by the men of Sodom when you had these two
visitors from heaven at your house that night? Were you really surprised to
learn that your daughters raped you as they perhaps were shocked by your
willingness to have the Sodomites rob them of their purity?
Lot, please don’t get me wrong.
we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no righteousness in us
apart from Jesus. Like you, we too, are saved only by the grace of God as
fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We, too, like you struggle with the impulses of our
sinful human nature. We, too, experience at times torment in our souls. Tell
us, Lot, when you sat in that cave with
little Moab and Ben-Ammi on your knees, were you tormented in your soul or was
there a mixture of joy and love as well as pain and sorrow?
From Father to Offspring:
Congregation, let’s learn from Lot and marvel at the ways of God. You see, when you consider the story of Lot against the background of the larger story of God making a promise to Abram and his descendants to be blessing to all the nations of the world, Lot’s disappointing finish as a righteous man and father of two wayward daughters reveals some surprises that point us to God’s wondrous ways with us.
Out of Lot’s cave walk two children who become the patriarchs of two nations: Moab is the father of the Moabites; Ben-Ammi is the father of the Ammonites. The offspring of Lot—through his wayward daughters—father many descendants. And centuries later, these descendants become the enemies of Abram’s God and Abram’s descendants.
For example, when the descendants of Abraham are on their way to inherit the promised land, they pass through the wasteland of the Ammonites and the Moabites. The Ammonites opposed the Israelites. They lost their battle against God and his people. The Moabites decided to call a curse upon Israel (and thus upon Israel’s God); so Balak, the king of the Moabites, called upon Balaam—a sorcerer of some sort with a remarkable connection to Abraham’s God—to pronounce curses upon the Israelites.
However, inspired by God’s Spirit, Balaam pronounced blessings upon God’s people. Later on, in the days of Nehemiah, the Book of Moses (the sacred scriptures) were read again, and there it is written that “…no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but hired Balaam to call a curse down on them” (Nehemiah 13:1,2). Ah, Learn from Lot!