“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.”          Genesis 19:2 NIV

We have a picture of Lot’s compromise with the world. Remember, the Lord had stayed behind with Abraham. Only the two angels went to Sodom. Lot is found sitting in the gateway of Sodom. He was there for one of two reasons. Lot was either the mayor or a city official responsible for city government and for settling disputes between citizens. City officials, acting as judges, sat at the gate for that purpose (see Deuteronomy 21:19-21; 22:15; Ruth 4:1). Abraham had saved Sodom from foreign conquest as we saw in Genesis 14:1-24. Perhaps the citizens had honoured Lot, making him a city official because of what his uncle had done for them. Lot had compromised his values and was now living with the worldly. Perhaps he was at the gate, the public gathering place, either to conduct business or just pass the time away with the worldly. Yet he was “walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of the scornful” (Psalm1:1). There was some inner goodness within Lot. There was more to Lot’s invitation than just Eastern social tradition and kindness. There was an urgency, an anxiety in his invitation. He knew the city and the people, the moral degradation. He knew the threat and danger to the strangers. There was a spiritual awareness, an inner goodness, still seen even in Lot’s failure. The danger of compromise lies within all of us!

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, keep us alert to the dangers of compromising our stand for You.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, it is easy for us to point out Lot’s weakness, and yet the danger of compromising our stand for You, stands within all of us. Keep us alert through Your Holy Spirit. AMEN

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Isaiah 28:1-6

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