Genesis 19:1-3: Prayer being answered.

“The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 ‘My lords,’ he said, ‘please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.’  ‘No,’ they answered, ‘we will spend the night in the square.’  3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.” NIV UK

Don’t forget that these two angels were despatched to Sodom in answer to Abraham’s prayers. ‘Abraham, who lived outside Sodom, had more influence than Lot, who lived in the city.’ Warren Wiersbe.  When Abraham had his divine visitation ‘’he was sitting at the entrance to his tent’’ (18:1). But Lot ‘was sitting in the gate-way of the city’’ (19:1) when the ‘’two angels’’ came calling. Like his uncle, he showed kind and generous hospitality to his visitors. But he was not like him in outlook. Lot had some time previously traded his tent for a settled home. As he was in the gate-way, it may indicate that he was a person of influence. But in order to affect ‘Sodom’ you have to be salty salt and bright light. The overall impression we get from Lot’s story indicates he was not. In fact, but for 2 Peter 2:7,8, you might question whether he was a believer.

‘Abraham was a pilgrim and stranger, only passing through this world, but Lot had gradually abandoned his tent and settled down in Sodom. Instead of keeping his eyes on the heavenly city (Heb. 11:10, 14-16), Lot looked toward Sodom and began to walk by sight (Gen. 13:10-11). Then he moved his tent near Sodom (v. 12), and finally he moved into Sodom (14:12). Lot’s location in the gate indicates that he was a man of some authority, for that was where official business was conducted (Ruth 4:1ff.).

Had Lot gone to Sodom because God directed him, his being there would have fulfilled divine purposes. After all, God put Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and Esther in Persia, and their presence turned out to be a blessing. Worldliness is not a matter of physical geography but of heart attitude (1 John 2:15-17). Lot’s heart was in Sodom long before his body arrived there. No doubt he got his first love for the world when he went to Egypt with Abraham (Gen. 13:1, 10), and he never overcame it.’ Warren Wiersbe.

The last sentence is conjecture, but for the rest, I feel there is warning in it that it’s possible to be a worldly kind of Christian – one who lives well away from God’s real purpose for their life. You cannot bless your world in the way God wants you to if you are content to be lukewarm.

PRAYER: Lord, set me ablaze by your Spirit, and keep me burning. ‘Never let my heart go cold…’