Last year, my husband came home on day from work and per usual I asked him how his day had went and how he was doing. “Well,” he said and immediately I knew something was up. “I got laid off today.”
“What?” I asked, slightly laughing, hoping he was just joking. “Are you serious?”
He nodded. But I kept badgering him until he finally pulled out the three envelopes that held his final paychecks and handed them over to me. Yup- weekly pay, vacation hours he hadn’t used, severance pay- it was all there. He wasn’t joking.
What I didn’t see that day was that my husband needed to leave that job.
He worked long hours and while the money was good, it wasn’t good for him. There were situations there that now I see would have probably gotten him into problems that we definitely didn’t need and that would not have been good for him or our family. Besides, it was making him miserable.
Of course, at the time all I could think about was the loss of income. All I could think about was paying our bills. At the time, I selfishly wished that he would be staying.
When I read Lot’s story in the Bible it makes me think of that desire to stay. Lot had followed Abram and found himself close to the city of Sodom. Well, soon he was actually in the city itself. He was no longer just vacationing there but living there. He had adapted his life to the city and to the customs…which was not a good thing.
We can all get a picture of what Sodom and Gomorrah were like and probably can’t imagine a man who is later in the Bible considered to be righteous as living in such a place. It doesn’t tell us if Lot was trying to be of an evangelism mindset there, or if he just simply enjoyed it. All we know is that it sure seemed like he wanted to stay there.
“When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters, and led them safely out of the city.” Genesis 19:16
Even after Lot was warned that the city would be destroyed and that he had to leave RIGHT NOW, he still hesitated, so much so, that the angels grabbed him and pulled him out.
A commentary I read explained it like this, “It seemed Lot was not only in the city of Sodom but the city of Sodom was in Lot.” He had become so much like the city that when he tried to warn the people he knew that God was going to pass judgement on the city, they thought he was joking. “What? Lot talking about God-you got to be joking!” (Genesis 19:14) His witness as a man of God was gone. He had become so much like the Sodomites that he no longer stood out. He had stayed too long.
Have we stayed too long in a place God has asked us to leave? Are we currently in a place that we know we shouldn’t be in? A relationship we know isn’t right for us. A job or town that we know it’s time to move on from. Perhaps we have stayed home on Sunday mornings for far too long and kept God at a distance. We will know we are not where we should be when our salt has lost its flavor, when our light has grown too dim. When we can’t talk about God with the people we know because they think we’re joking, then we’ve stayed too long in a place that we should never have lived. Whatever it might be, allow God to pull you out of there if He has to. In your hesitation, ask for His help. And He will be faithful.
It’s difficult to leave a life that we know and have grown comfortable with-even if that life isn’t what is right for us. We will all most likely visit areas that will pull to us. That will call out with their pretty lights and seemingly fun ways. We may spend a night there. We may even vacation there. But let’s not STAY. If we stay, we may encounter what Lot would have had he stayed-destruction.
“This makes me think about my old job,” my husband just recently told me when we discussed this lesson of Lot and the idea of staying somewhere that isn’t good for you. “It wouldn’t have been good if I’d stayed.”
“I know,” I agreed, because even though it had been difficult to accept the truth that day he walked in with the news, I can now see exactly how God had worked in that situation. And how, my husband had stayed there as long as possible-for me and our son-until God had to yank him out. I see now that it wouldn’t have been good for him, or us, if he’d stayed.
Lot may be the poster boy for staying in a place that wasn’t right but what stands out to me is that when he did leave, he obeyed. God warned him and his family not to even look back. When Lot ran, I believe it finally all clicked into place. This wasn’t a joke. So he left and HE DIDN’T LOOK BACK.
May we do the same when we end that relationship/leave that job/place. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and look FORWARD. He has so much more for us that sin and destruction. He has new life waiting for us. Let’s set our eyes on what’s in front of us and not look back.
Oh, and if you’re wondering my husband got a new job that very next day. How good is God?!
