It appears Lot went from being a farmer in the surrounding fields of Sodom to a place of political prominence in that city’s gate. The “gate” of a city was where elders met to conduct its affairs (Prov. 31:23). Genesis 19:9 could be translated, “This fellow came in to sojourn, and he will again and again be a judge.” Oh! beloved Christian friends, how many believers there are, called by God to be sojourners here, who have set about to “again and again” correct the conduct of the world a world that is under a coming day of judgment (Acts 17:31).
It will be thus with the professed church. The world will tire of her constant efforts to correct it and will overthrow her completely. God will put it into the heart of the world to do it (Rev. 17:15-18). Solemn thought!
Lot’s Vexation and Failures
Lot lived with a vexed soul, and his efforts to make Sodom better failed completely. Still, his life’s interests were in Sodom. When this happens in a man’s life, his house comes into shame. Husbands! Fathers! The Lord has given us a place to “rule.” But it is not in this world; it is in our homes (1 Tim. 3:5). If we neglect that responsibility, both our homes and the assembly will suffer.
As a husband, we find that Lot had little apparent love for his wife. He had worked hard filling her house with “stuff,” but in an hour of grave danger, instead of being the “saviour” of his wife (Eph. 5:23), someone else must take her hand to save her.
Providing for the Needs of Our Wives
There are husbands like Lot who are quite willing to allow someone else to provide for the needs of their wives. A husband should be one to whom a wife can turn when she needs answers to her questions (1 Cor. 14:35). Often we men may find ourselves sitting in some gate perhaps for long hours giving answers to others.
Lot was found there at even and it appears he planned to return there “early.” I suspect that this was the pattern of his life. His work was his life, and he stayed late at the office and returned to it early (Gen. 19:12). While there are times when a man will be called on to work extra hours (Neh. 4:21-23), that is not what I refer to. There can be little doubt that Lot’s advancement in Sodom was due to his pursuit in life. He sought his “own things,” not the interests of the Lord. I doubt his wife suffered for lack of material things, but she did lack a husband’s caring and directing love in her life.
Providing for the Needs of Our Children
Lot as a father was no better. In Genesis 19:14, it could read, “Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters.” It appears from this verse that these men were engaged to his daughters and had not yet taken them in marriage.
How tragic is the lack of Lot’s care for his daughters! In an hour when they needed him most, he would have given them up to those who would have defiled them. We all agree that such conduct is contemptible. But dads! What have we been guilty of exposing our daughters to?
Fathers: Teaching Their Daughters
Do we fathers pass the time of our “sojourning... in fear”? Are we not often very careless in instructing our precious daughters in manners calculated to preserve them in purity?
I think none influences a daughter’s choice of a husband as much as her father. Do we teach them that the way that they dress has an important influence as to the type of young man that will be interested in them? Do we help them to learn what they should avoid doing or where they should avoid being? Do we encourage our daughters to go to “functions” of the world that expose them to the young men of the world? (See Dinah in Genesis 34.)
Fathers: The Result of Carelessness
Dinah was allowed by her careless father to keep company with the “daughters of the land.” Perhaps he reasoned, “Oh, they are not saved, but they are really nice girls.” But the sad result was that Dinah met Shechem (who defiled her) when she was with those “really nice girls.”
Shechem was “more honorable than all the house of his father.” Have we ever heard, “He’s not saved, but he is a really nice boy.” How vital that fathers ask, “But who is his father?” Is his Father, God? Does he reflect in this life that God is his Father? Is not that a most critical consideration? How crucial are these questions!
Fathers: The Result of Neglect
Oh! where was poor Lot when his daughters chose men of Sodom to be their life companions? He was involved with the “more important” affairs of Sodom. There he met those two strangers “angels,” thinking they were simply “men.” Sensing they were important men, his care for them was more important than that of his own daughters!
Fathers: Their Most Important Work
Let us not think this does not relate to us as fathers! How many fathers neglect their own children, while thinking they are doing a more important work (not now for Sodom) for God. Beloved, what is our concept of the Lord’s work for those who are parents?
Does He not reprove those who would teach the neglect of their families under the thought that it was “Corban” (Mark 7:11)? Do we really think the Lord would lead us to sacrifice our responsibilities towards our children in order to serve Him (Judg. 11:30-40)? Oh! how careless we are as fathers!
The Sad Results of the Misuse of Marriage
May we consider the “end results” of this misuse of marriage. “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). Why did she look back? This chapter indicates that her heart had been taken away by the “stuff in the house.” Oh! how many homes have been destroyed because of the pursuit of filling those beautiful homes with beautiful “stuff.”
May we soberly consider Lot’s two daughters. Instead of Lot’s children replenishing God’s interests down here, they, by means of their father’s drunkenness, give birth to the Moabites and the Ammonites, children who were to be shut out from being included among the Lord’s people (Deut. 23:3).
In conclusion, beloved brethren, may we soberly and humbly obey the words of the prophet: “Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways” (Haggai 1:5).
H. Short