Careful Where You Pitch Your Tent

With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city [Sodom] is punished.” When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus, he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. (Genesis 19:15-17, 24-25, NIV 1984).

My Musings – Lot was Abraham’s nephew. He had accompanied Abraham when God told him to leave his country and go to a place He would show him. “So, Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.” (Genesis 12:4, NIV 1984).

As the years went by, both Abram’s and Lot’s possessions grew. “Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.” (Genesis 13:2, 5–6, NIV 1984).

So, they separated. “Abram said to Lot…Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” So, Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.” (Genesis 13:8, 9, 11–13, NIV 1984).

Just like Adam and Eve found out that if you hang around the forbidden tree you’re inviting trouble, Lot found out that if you pitch your tents near a wicked city, you’re also inviting trouble. But God was merciful to Lot for the sake of Abraham. “So, when God destroyed the cities [Sodom and Gomorrah] of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.” (Genesis 19:29, NIV 1984).

My Advice – Lot chose the cities of the plains to “[pitch] his tents near,” and it nearly ended in catastrophe for him. Be careful where you “pitch your tent.” It may look enticing, as wickedness sometimes can. But if it causes you to risk “sinning greatly against the Lord,” run in the other direction.