Linger in God's Grace

Today's devotion is from Genesis Chapter 19. Take a few minutes to read it now.

We find ourselves in the city of Sodom. Lot, Abraham’s nephew, lives in Sodom with his wife and 2 daughters. Back in chapter 13, we see that Abraham and Lot had to separate because they each had become so wealthy that the land could no longer support both of them. So, Lot decided to move to the Jordan Valley, an area that was fertile and would be good for his livestock. Sodom was in this valley and that is how he came to live there. However, it appears this city already had a bad reputation.

In chapter 12, we read about how the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had become wicked beyond all measure. The Lord was planning to destroy the cities, everyone and everything in them. But Abraham pleaded with the Lord for mercy because of his nephew and his family. He asked the Lord not to destroy the city if He were to find just 10 righteous people there. I love Abraham’s boldness in how he asked. In fact, he began with 50 people, and as the Lord agreed, he kept bringing the number down. All the way to 10.

We see just how wicked the city of Sodom was, when Lot entertained 2 angels (messengers) in his home. The men of Sodom got wind of this and went to Lot’s home, demanding him to release the men to them so they could rape them. Yes, you read that right!!! Lot, trying to appease them, offered up his virgin daughters in the place of the men (another horrible idea-perhaps because he had become comfortable living in such a wicked place). The men were about to break through the door when the messengers opened the door and pulled Lot in, rescuing him from the angry mob.

And this is where it gets really good… The messengers tell Lot that he and his family must leave because God was going to destroy the city, but his soon-to-be sons-in-law (men from Sodom) who were with them didn’t believe that it would happen. In the morning, Lot ‘lingered’. He delayed. He took his time. He was waying the cost of leaving. He had many possessions that he would have to leave behind. Was he was actually contemplating staying in the midst of the evil all around him and the horrors he had experienced with the angry mob of men the night before?

I can’t help but think of how we too sit in the stench around us. How our sin becomes so comfortable, so normal, so familiar, that we find it hard to turn from it. Sins grip on our hearts and minds is so powerful that it can prevent us from going in the direction the Lord is calling us, one that is righteous and brings Him glory. How God Himself pleads with us to repent of our sins!

Then the messengers do something so loving, so merciful, so amazing. They grabbed Lot, his wife and daughters… the NIV says they ‘seized’ him. In his sin-sick state of mind, not thinking clearly…while he could have rejected this act of deliverance, God grabbed hold of him. He pulled him out of the place he had grown accustomed to, unaware of the death his soul was experiencing as he walked further and further from the Lord. He brought him out of the city, saving him from the destruction that was to follow. He set him outside the city, in a new place, safe from harm. God did it all!

Do you feel weak from the sin that has a grip on you? Are you not thinking clearly? Does it feel like your feet are stuck in the muck of living according to your own selfish desires? Do you find yourself looking more like the fallen, evil world around you than like the redeemed, righteous, beloved child of God that you are?

What things make you linger and not run at the opportunity to go where God is calling you?

Are you living in self-deprecating sins that not only destroy the body but the soul? Do you turn to the things you own, like food, your phone, your couch or alcohol instead of turning to the one who sent His Son to seize you, to grab hold of you, to pull you out from the sin that controls you?

He washed you clean in the waters of baptism. His blood shed at the cross paid the price you couldn’t pay in your sin-sick condition. He bought you with HIS BLOOD! Let that sit with you for a moment. If we are to linger, let us linger on His Word. Let us linger in the grace that He so freely gives us. Let us linger on the fact that we do nothing to deserve this grace, this salvation, this rescue. HE DID IT because of His great love for us… FOR YOU!

Sister, spend some time looking at the things that hold you back from running away with Jesus. From food, to Facebook, to laziness, to always wanting more, Jesus calls us to leave it all behind and follow Him. He has His grip on you and will not let you go. He will indeed set you in a righteous city, one free of sin, with a feast that never ends with Him for all eternity. There is nothing in all of creation that can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Linger in God's grace, my friend!