Where do you stop when you start digging into a passage of Scripture like Genesis chapter 19? The lessons seem to be endless when you ask the Lord to open your mind to what He is saying to you! Here are just a couple that occur to me this morning:

 

1. Verse 23 tells me that God waited until Lot was safely inside the city of Zoar before He destroyed with fire, Sodom, its inhabitants, animals, plant life and all that pertained to it. Another city beginning with Z is where His trusting people will be when the earth is again destroyed by fire, Zion… the New Jerusalem, home of the redeemed! There, the finally unrepentant of earth will defy God as they are led by Satan in an attempt to overthrow the city and bring it under his control: “They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” (Revelation 20:9)  Zion, the New Jerusalem is my place of refuge… there where Jesus is King!

 

2. As Lot flees Sodom without a backward glance, so must God’s people today. This story was the turning point for me 46 years ago when addicted to tobacco. Every time the addiction seemed about to overpower me I would remember Lot’s wife and say: “Don’t look back! That chapter of your life is finished.”

 

Are you carrying baggage from the former life today my friend? As the Lord reveals it to you, drop it and don’t look back! Focus on Zion, not Sodom!

Have a great Sabbath!