“Lot! What are you still doing? Hurry up at once!”The first angel said and grabbed Lot’s arms, pulling him out while the second angel hastened his wife and two daughters as they fled outside.
“Don’t stop for anything! Keep running to the mountains if you want to live!” the second angel shouted with every sense of urgency.
“Keep running! The judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah is now!”
“Don’t stop! Don’t look back!”
The way these angels emphasized the judgment coming upon Sodom was terrific.
“Pl… pl… ee… aa… ss… ee,” Lot stuttered. He considered the far distance and the frailty of his body. He won’t be able to make it that far within a short period.
“Please, can we get to Zoar instead? I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the mountains,” Lot continued, breathing heavily while still perplexed at the suddenness of the angels’ instructions.
“Whatever! As long as you get out of here! Get to Zoar right now! Do not turn back. Hurry. We cannot do anything until you get there!”
Lot and his family scampered for safety, all earnestly heading towards Zoar.
“My goodness!Those new jewelries I got from Puah will waste just like that? I spent a fortune to purchase them, for crying out loud!” Mrs. Lot ruminated while she hurried along with her family.
This time, her pace had slackened.
“I don’t understand all this! Why does it have to be now?If only these angels would understand! They could have waited a little more for me to pack all of them. ”
By this time, she had slowed down her pace. Her husband and children didn’t notice.They had gone far ahead.
“Would these angels consider it if I requested to go back and get them? Perhaps they didn’t know I have such invaluable items in my treasure chest.”
She had stopped this time.
“Let me try first; They might understand,” she said, as she looked back, perhaps to take one step backwards. But…
….
“The sun has risen,” Lot said as he entered the city of Zoar with his two daughters. They were panting heavily and sweating profusely. They had run like hares from Sodom down to Zoar.
“Where’s Mum?” the first daughter asked.
The rest looked around and then at one another.
They understood the unspoken message of their mother’s absence. Sorrowfully, they went on to settle in the new city.
They were fortunate to have escaped.
What do we learn from Lot’s wife?
When the urgent call to escape came, she obeyed outwardly. She left her treasures and ran with her family. But her heart never truly left Sodom.And when the heart remains behind, the body cannot travel far.
First, her heart drifted.
Then it stole her zeal to keep running.
Then it slowed her steps.
Finally, it turned her head. She never returned her gaze forward.She became a monument of warning, A pillar of salt.
That is why our Lord later gave a solemn command:“Remember Lot’s wife.” (Luke 17:32)
The direction of our lives is ultimately determined by the condition of our hearts. In the end, the true contents of the heart will reveal themselves in the direction we choose.
Therefore, we must bring every drifting thought and longing before God before it slows our pace in this pilgrimage and turns our gaze backward.
Escape is not enough until we have arrived the promised land.
May God forbid that our hearts cling to what He has commanded us to leave behind.
May His grace sustain us in this race till the end in Jesus’name.Amen.