by Dorcas Kulwa | 12 October 2022 08:46 am10
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
— Philippians 2:12 (ESV)
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, we’ve been granted yet another opportunity to seek His face and reflect on His Word. Today, we examine a profound and sobering lesson hidden in the story of the destruction of Sodom and the salvation of Lot’s family a story that speaks deeply to our generation.
In Genesis 19, two angels are sent by God to destroy Sodom, a city steeped in wickedness (Genesis 18:20). Yet before judgment, God displays His mercy by seeking to rescue Lot and his family.
Genesis 19:15–16 (ESV)
“As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.”
Here, we see a picture of God’s active grace. Lot’s deliverance was not based on his urgency or merit in fact, he hesitated. It was solely God’s compassion that saved him (Titus 3:5). The angels literally pulled them out a foreshadowing of how God’s grace sometimes intervenes despite our reluctance.
However, the divine assistance was not indefinite. Once outside the city, the angels gave Lot a final instruction:
Genesis 19:17 (ESV)
“And as they brought them out, one said, ‘Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.'”
This moment signifies the transition from divine intervention to human responsibility. God brings us to the threshold of salvation, but He also expects our response. This is echoed in the New Testament:
Hebrews 2:3 (ESV)
“How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”
Lot’s wife tragically failed this test.
Genesis 19:26 (ESV)
“But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Lot’s wife turned back not just physically, but with her heart. Her backward glance wasn’t curiosity, but a longing for the life she was leaving. This act revealed her true allegiance, and her fate became a timeless warning.
Jesus Himself referenced her:
Luke 17:32–33 (ESV)
“Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.”
Her judgment illustrates the peril of a divided heart one that outwardly follows God but inwardly clings to the world.
We now live in a time when the age of grace is nearing its close. The Gospel is still being preached, but the final call is at hand. The door is still open but not for long.
Luke 13:24–27 (ESV)
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!'”
We must not rely on religious familiarity, past experiences, or outward association. Salvation is personal. As Jesus said, “Strive” it demands effort, urgency, and total surrender.
2 Corinthians 6:2 (ESV)
“Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
The days we live in are dangerous. The deception of comfort, prosperity, and compromise is stronger than ever. Like Lot’s wife, many today are walking forward with God but are still longing for Sodom — for the world, its pleasures, and its systems.
But friendship with the world is hostility to God:
James 4:4 (ESV)
“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
We cannot afford to be lukewarm. Jesus warns:
Revelation 3:16 (ESV)
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
The same mercy that led Lot out of destruction is being extended to you today through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But God’s mercy demands a response. You must flee. You must not look back. You must run with endurance the race that is set before you (Hebrews 12:1).
Philippians 2:12 (ESV)
“…Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
God is not willing that any should perish, but He will not drag anyone to heaven. The time to respond is now. The angels have done their part. The door is still open — but soon it will close.
May the Lord help us to remember Lot’s wife.
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