Genesis 19:6-11: a reflection

6Lot went out to them through the door, and shut the door after himself. 7He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly. 8See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.” 9They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door. 10But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 11They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

This is a dark and troubling scene. Lot, living in the wicked city of Sodom, tries to protect the two visitors who have come under his roof from the mob outside; but in doing so he makes a terrible, indefensible offer, proposing to give up his own daughters to the mob. His attempt to do one right thing, protecting his guests, is entangled with a grievous wrong, and shows how deeply his situation had compromised him. But then the visitors, God's own messengers, act: they pull Lot back inside to safety and strike the mob with blindness, so they cannot find the door.

Notice that Lot's own actions here are not to be admired; his offer was deeply wrong, a sign of how his life in Sodom had compromised him. Yet notice, too, what God's messengers do: they rescue Lot, pulling him to safety, and protect him from the mob. Lot's deliverance was not owed to his own righteousness or wisdom, which were badly lacking here; it was an act of God's grace, reaching to rescue a compromised and floundering man who did not deserve it.

That is a hard but real comfort. God's rescue of his own is not based on their merit; he reaches to save even the compromised, the floundering, those whose own choices have entangled them in trouble and whose conduct is far from admirable. Lot was in a mess largely of his own making, and behaving poorly in it; and still God's grace reached to pull him out. If you have entangled yourself through your own compromises, and are floundering in a situation your own choices helped create, do not conclude that God has abandoned you to it. His grace rescues the undeserving; he reached to save even Lot. This is not an excuse for our compromises, but a comfort that God's rescuing grace does not depend on our merit; he reaches to save the floundering, as he reached to save Lot.

Lord, in this dark scene, Lot, compromised by his life in Sodom, made a terrible and indefensible offer, and his conduct was not to be admired; yet your messengers rescued him, pulling him to safety and striking the mob with blindness. His deliverance was not owed to his own righteousness, which was badly lacking, but to your grace, reaching to rescue a floundering man who did not deserve it. Give me the hard comfort in that. Your rescue of your own is not based on their merit; you reach to save even the compromised, the floundering, those whose own choices have entangled them in trouble. If I have entangled myself through my own compromises, and am floundering in a situation my own choices helped create, keep me from concluding that you have abandoned me to it. Your grace rescues the undeserving; you reached to save even Lot. Let this be no excuse for my compromises, but a comfort that your rescuing grace does not depend on my merit. Reach to save me, Lord, as you reached to save Lot.