TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL PASSAGE

DEVOTIONAL

by Sandra Chua

Having seen that Sodom and Gomorrah were well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord, Lot settled there. But the people were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord. The angel of the Lord came down to confirm the outcry against the city, and true enough, one night in the city was enough to confirm their wickedness.

Having settled in Lot’s house for the night, the men of the city surrounded Lot’s house and demanded that Lot surrender to them his guests. As Lot pleaded and reasoned with the men, they pressed against Lot, almost breaking the door.

I am amazed by God’s persistence in saving Lot three times in this chapter. It reminds me of how God, in the same way, persistently reaches out to us to save us, too.

The first is in verse 10. The angels had to pull Lot into the house and strike the men with blindness to protect him from the men of the city.

The second is in the morning after, when the destruction is about to fall. The angels urged Lot to escape. Verse 16 states, “But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand, and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord, was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city.” The angels had to take the hands of four people: Lot, his wife, and two daughters. I imagine the angels dragging them out of the city.

The third is in verse 22, where the angel says he cannot do anything until Lot escapes to the little city of Zoar. I am reminded of how God waited til Noah was tucked safely into the ark before the rain fell. It also brought to mind Revelation 7:3, which states, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And last, it reminds me how we, having been sealed with the Holy Spirit, are safe in God’s hand. No one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand.

REFLECTION

How does God’s justice contrasted to His mercy make you both reverent and comforted?

PRAYER