Loving That Sin

Okay, so it’s just us.  No one will know the answer to this question.  Was there any season of sin in your life that you look back on that wish you could do all over again?  Now, now, now don’t get super spiritual.  It’s just you, me and God.  God knows your heart already so in this article, use this time for reflecting honestly.  Is there a part of your old life that was surrounded by sin and you actually loved it?  Yes, it was bad but you enjoyed the sin. I’ll be truthful first.  There was a time when I believed what I was doing at the time wasn’t sin, though looking at it now, it surely was.  It was wrong, but oh how it felt so right at the time.  

Last week, we started our series called, Mangled Motherhood.”  Sarai was first, showing us that there are times we believe God but don’t trust him.  This week, we are going to talk about a woman who raised her daughters in sin and loved it.  Because of the lack of information, there isn’t much to tell us how this mother became the way she was.  Based on what we do see though, we can be sure of a few things.  In order to help us along this story, I am going to exercise my creative license to fill in some gaps.  

When Sin Comes Knocking

This story is found in Genesis 19
As I stated before, last week we had a bible study about Sarah—she is the great-aunt, by marriage, to the woman we are talking about today.  This woman has a very powerful story—teaching us a very serious lesson—but sadly, we are not given her name.  She is just known as “Lot’s wife.”  

Her life changed forever the day her husband came home with two strange men as guests.  Her husband was a very hospitable man as he welcomed them to his home, but these guests look different.  There was something unique about them that had not been seen before.  Lot found these two men in town just sitting and he insisted that they come home with him instead of staying in the city.  He knew that it was never safe for visitors to come into the city and not have a place to stay.  After insisting, the men finally came home with him.  Lot, nor his wife, knew what this night was going to bring.    

Lot was a great host, talking with them, feeding them and giving them a nice warm bed to sleep in.  But before they could sleep, voices came from outside their door.  

Before they went to bed men from all over the city of Sodom, young and old, descended on the house from all sides and boxed them in. They yelled to Lot, “Where are the men who are staying with you for the night? Bring them out so we can have our sport with them!”

Lot went out, barring the door behind him, and said, “Brothers, please, don’t be vile! – Gen. 19:4-7

Things started to get out of hand when the men of the city were demanding Lot bring the men out; not so that they could welcome them or introduce themselves.  Those men wanted to rape and sodomize these visitors.   When Lot would not turn his guests over, the men became more and more violent so Lot offered the unthinkable. 

Loud Silence

Look, I have two daughters, virgins; let me bring them out; you can take your pleasure with them, but don’t touch these men—they’re my guests.” -vs 8 

You read that right, to ease the mob he offered his two virgin daughters to them; that way he could protect the guests.  Yes, the father was giving consent for them to rape and have their way with his daughters instead of protecting everyone under his roof. 

Now I know that we are focusing on motherhood, but it was the father who was making the offer.  Is there something else you do not see?  You do not see any objection from the mother.  When you read on Lot’s wife makes no objection to the request.  Silence speaks just as loud as vocalized words.  Has there ever been a time when someone of authority stayed silent when you needed defending?  

I have listened to heart-wrenching stories of victims who had parents that were not guilty of the act of abuse, but stayed silent when they knew about the violation  In almost all cases, the child was just as upset, if not angrier, at the silent parent than the violator.  If you have been through something like this, how de-valued or unloved did you feel?  You might have thought that you could at least rely on that one parent to be there for you but in return, they gave you silence along with turning a blind eye. 

 Lot’s wife watched as her husband wined and dined these strangers, yet offer up their daughters to a mob for them to defile.   If you didn’t catch it, these girls had husbands and were virgins!!!   It was most likely that they were engaged, and in those days to be engaged was to be married, minus the physical acts of husband and wife.  In any case, had those men in the city were to have agreed to take Lot on his offer, the girls would have been considered damaged goods and their husbands would never want to be with them ever again.     

As much as we can look at this mother and condemn her for her silence, we need to look at ourselves.  It may not be in the same ballpark, but are there things we stayed silent about because we were too scared to stand up?     

When Sin Trumps Salvation

Even though Lot felt like the answer to the mob’s desire to have sex with the new men was to give their virgin daughters, the men wanted the guests.  The mob started to get really violent—understand the mob consisted of men, young, old, small and great.  Every single man in the whole town was there—and began to push through the door (19:4).  Those guests were not just regular guests, they were angels sent to bring destruction on the city for the deplorable acts going on there.  The angels moved Lot out of the way and struck all the men with blindness.  God told Lot he needed to get his family and leave.  The next morning Lot, his wife and daughters packed what they could to leave.  Sadly, Lot could not convince his sons-in-law to come because they loved where they lived despite what had already taken place.  

As the morning was coming, the angels urged Lot and his family to hurry because the danger was coming.  With all that they witnessed, Lot and his family still lingered and moved as slow as they could in getting ready.  They had seen what the men of the town were up to and witnessed the power of their guest but they still moved uninterested and slowly.  It wasn’t until the angels grabbed Lot, the wife and the daughters by the hands, and almost dragged them out of the city, that they were able to leave.  As they were being rescued the angel said, 

“Now run for your life! Don’t look back! Don’t stop anywhere on the plain—run for the hills or you’ll be swept away.”

“Don’t look back.”

What an easy thing to say but a hard thing to do.  What do you do when God rescues you from sin you enjoy committing?  I know that no one would ever admit to enjoying certain times of sin, but only God knows that not everyone he rescues wants to be rescued.  That sounds horrible to say, but there are some alcoholics who are killing themselves but love how they are dying.  There are people in clubs partying their butts off—once, maybe twice a week—with their friends and love the atmosphere.  There are those sleeping with a new person every few months and love every minute of it.  Let’s not pretend that sin isn’t attractive.  If it wasn’t attractive then it would be called temptation.   We can lie to our friends and lie to ourselves that we hated that life but the truth is, not every aspect of our sinful life was detestable to us even though it should have been.  

Ther are Christians who question why we can’t do certain things when it makes us feel so good.  God desires to rescue us and he doesn’t want us to look back on our old lives.  Unfortunately, some of us are still very connected to our sin. So at times sin trumps salvation.

So what did Lot’s wife do?

“… Lot’s wife looked back…” –vs 26a

This scripture is so simple but it says so much.  We are like a moth to the flame and so was Lot’s wife.   This wife, this mother, did what she was instructed not to do.  Something within her could not handle looking forward.  She was hearing her home being destroyed.  Fire was falling on her hometown, those she may have become close with were dying, her sons-in-law were dying in the fire.  She had to look back.  She had to see what was going on, I know I would.  She went against her better judgment and looked behind her to see what happened.  As soon as she took that glance, something was happening.  She was feeling different, her feet started feeling weird, her hands felt strange, and her face course.  Not only did she look back but then she…

“…turned into a pillar of salt.” –vs 26b

I have heard this story several times as a teenager and I had it in my mind that the flames were in the back and the angels were running with them when Lot’s wife looked over her shoulder to get a glance and turned into salt.  That is not what took place.  The truth is that the angels got Lot and his family far away from danger and they were in a place of safety (19:23).  It was when they were all safe THEN she looked back, not just with her eyes, but with her heart.  Her daughters watched their mother’s legacy end when she was more in love with her sin than her Savior.

Weekly challenge:

What message are you conveying to your children?  Do you glamourize sin and may your new life with God appear to be more of a burden than a blessing?  Read Luke 17:32. Do you want to be remembered for not being able to let go of your sin?

Feel free to comment below or email us on the side for additional help.  Also, you can follow us on Facebook or Instagram @throughthewinters.com.

Also, our newest book is out!!

We have worked really hard to talk about the war that Christians are in. We are meant to win every battle set before us but there are many times we get in our way.  What are some things we need to learn in order to never lose another spiritual battle again?  Buy our Book on Amazon to find out.