Sep 24, 202329 min read

Remember Lot’s Wife: A Biblical Commentary

Updated: Oct 21, 2023

Lot’s wife is infamous—immediately we see an odd pillar of salt in the desert in our mind’s eye. But Jesus’ comment about her, which is to mnēmoneuete her (be mindful concerning her; Luke 17:32) requires digging, as in a salt pit, to appreciate and understand: 1) her situation; 2) the consequences of her faith-choice; and 3) why Christians should remember her today. If Jesus directly leads His followers to her story in the context of the end times and His Second Coming, it is critically important that we become acquainted with her full story this day in age (Luke 17:30).

KEY POINT

Lot’s wife is the one woman in all of Old Testament history whom Jesus chose to DIRECTLY CONTRAST to His Bride, the Church, whom the Holy Spirit calls, “the Lamb’s wife,” for all Eternity (Revelation 21:9). Christ’s Bride overcomes every situation on earth, every change of plan, every intimate and colossal surprise of a lifelong spiritual war; whereas Lot’s wife failed to have faith in God for her future.

The main question each reader should keep in mind is: Whose wife am I?

For your Maker is your Husband—the Lord of hosts is His name—and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth He is called (Isaiah 54:5, AMPC).

Lot’s wife is Jesus’ warning sign to the modern-day Church.

She was “married to the world” rather than God, her Maker.

Let’s begin with the story of God’s original rescue of her recorded in Genesis 19—the need for such rescue being the result of multiple “compromised” decisions over the years made by her husband, Lot, and his patriarchal family. Such “half-hearted lifestyles” lead to generational errors which trickle down into our modern decision-making processes, outlooks and attitudes. Some members of Lot’s family created a theme: habitually settling someplace shy of God’s fullest plan and call. Giving up halfway to the Promised Land is a sign of cowardice which Revelation starkly warns us against (Revelation 21:8, AMPC).

It is part of the fallen nature of mankind to provide God with partial obedience.

The problem with this double-minded approach is that living on our past faith

weakens the faith we need for today.

Remember, NOW (δὲ) faith is (Hebrews 11:1)!

A belief/unbelief cycle causes non-progression,

which entraps the very people God has set free to serve Him.

It is a confusing, tiresome way to live.

We need fresh faith to keep going, a fresh anointing!

We need ever-living HOPE! We need to maintain our decision to accept and follow Christ!

We were created to both serve and emulate our EVER-LIVING GOD!

Lot’s wife was in the Old Testament.

Why is she so important to Christians?

As Christians, we do not want to die spiritually—by giving up the faith—someplace in the middle of “working out our own Salvation” (Philippians 2:12-13, ESV). Rather, we must believe in Christ all the way throughout our journey—of whatever sort, location, or result that is. Remember, we already died and were already risen with Christ in the very moment we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior (Colossians 3:1-3). We are presently seated with Him in Heavenly places! Circumstance is simply sand beneath our feet for we have been given Christ—the Victory, our Rock of Ages. It isn’t we who live, but Christ in us—the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Christ was not and is not a coward. In the end, it is the enemy who must flee.

So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you (James 4:7, AMPC).

It is through our lack of faith and patience that believers can act hypocritically and lose the spiritual ground we so painstakingly gained. Through doubt and unbelief, Christians can inadvertently crucify once again our Christ, which is dangerous territory. Remember, all has been finished through Christ’s work on the cross and His resurrection power (John 19:30)! The enemy uses fear—news reels, rumors of wars, threats to ourselves, our loved ones, our livelihood—in an effort to shake our faith.

Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain (Hebrews 12:27, NKJV).

Christ tells you and I: ”Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown” (Revelation 3:11b, NKJV). Christ Jesus LIVES and holds all authority and He has given us His authority to use (see Luke 10:19). Therefore, our faith must boldly step into the present and the future. We walk here, which means to move forward—we do not stop and turn back! We are mindful that anything not of faith, is sin (which grieves us and the Holy Spirit of God within us; see Romans 14:23). This principle stands even if the whole world crumbles down around us.

As Christians, we must remain steadfast,

no matter what happens in the world.

In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off] (Galatians 5:1, AMPC).

What was going on in Lot’s world?

Back to our story of Lot’s wife, who was ensnared again… Her world was crumbling—people and things, up in flames behind her. But prior to this happening there were many warnings. First, let’s look at the long-term habits of her husband and his family.

Lot was the grandson of Terah, and the nephew of Abraham. Lot’s father, Haran, had died some years earlier, so Lot’s grandfather, Terah, desired to move his family to Canaan—God’s Promised Land. Somehow, the clan ended up stopping in Harran—the meaning of this place name is: dry, parched, road. It was their form of the wilderness, which we all are tested on, even Jesus Christ, prior to full-on ministry (see Matthew 4, full chapter). Abraham, in contrast, was obedient to God throughout this wilderness test, and he resumed the family’s journey and headed once again to Canaan—following after God’s promise to him by faith alone.

Lot started out again along with his uncle, Abraham, but the faith journey was difficult physically, and in every other way—which is why it is called a test of faith! The strain regarding provision—fear of lack and subsequent complaint—caused strife between Abraham and Lot’s herdsman. Lot then chose the best land for himself, split away from his uncle, and settled his immediate family in Sodom—a city known for extreme wickedness! At one point, Abraham had to return to rescue Lot and Lot’s family from captivity. This should have been a clear sign, but Lot returned once again to the same wicked city!

The second time Lot needed rescuing, the Lord miraculously sent messengers, or angels, directly to Lot to save him. They met Lot where he was sitting—seemingly spiritually paralyzed—at the city gate of Sodom. Perhaps Lot was considering leaving, or lamenting his choices to remain there. Whatever his regrets or indecisions, he remained immovable due to mental confusion. He could have been overwhelmed with depression—mournfully reminiscing the promises of God he had stopped pursuing in order to have an “easier” existence. He seemed to have sold himself out physically at the cost of his soul.

In any event, Lot acknowledged the angels God sent to him with a bow; he recognized their being sent by the Lord (Genesis 19:1). He then attempted to persuade these angels to stay at his house for their own safety (knowing the dangers of the sinful city), but they intended on spending the night in the open (v. 2). Lot insisted they come to his house for protection, so the messengers entered Lot’s house, but both the young and the old men gathered outside. They came from throughout the wicked city and pressed in, threateningly, against Lot’s door (v. 5).

Lot oddly offers the crowd his own daughters to appease their lewd demands! Through this alarming exchange in Genesis 19, Lot’s internal sins, his own heart-mistakes, come to the surface through his words and actions, and are made clear. They include: 1) his assimilation with these wicked sinners as a false family, along with 2) his dangerous habit of compromising with them. These follies are revealed when Lot uses the term, “my brothers,” to address these especially wicked sinners. When he so easily caves into the pressures of sin by offering to sacrifice is own flesh and blood—his true family which he should have protected with his own life, the wickedness that has overtaken his own heart, soul and mind is exposed (v. 7, 8).

This passage communicates a strong warning against compromising with sinners and forging false alliances—things which we see happening in our society today.

It has been said that Christians are to affect unbelievers, for the sake of Christ.

However, when sinners start infecting Christians,

this is going too far and leads to compromise.

These men’s hearts had become so perverse, the angels themselves had become the target of a collective, blind lust—behavior certainly not deserving of the term, “my brother,” which expresses unity and alikeness.[1] However, since the angels were filled with the power of God Himself, they saved Lot, yet again (v. 10), and caused the “blindness” of the evildoers to afflict the sinners physically so they could not see to find Lot’s door.[2]

The angels then instructed Lot to warn his extended family that the city would be destroyed, and that they should flee. Lot found and warned his sons-in-law, but they did not believe him. Therefore, Lot lingered even after the angels instructed him fervently, “Arise, take your wife and two daughters who are here [and be off], lest you be consumed and swept away in the iniquity and punishment of the city” (Genesis 19:15, AMPC)! Lot persisted in indecision—even with the lives of his wife and daughters at stake! So the angels physically took him and his immediate family “by the hand”—the Lord’s angels miraculously rescued Lot, his wife, and two daughters, leading them out of the city to a safe place (Genesis 19:16, AMPC).

Soul ties—I’ve heard this phrase, but what are they?

Let’s take a step back from the story to really observe how many chances, indications, and warnings both Abraham and the Lord’s angels gave Lot, Lot’s wife, and Lot’s daughters—orders to leave such wickedness and threats. Yet, they all hesitated! The earthly possessions and the compromised people had such a satanic hold on Lot and his immediate family that they could not part with their surroundings, their familiarity, or their false alliances—even though their very lives were endangered! They had more faith in utter vanity, outlandish sin, and deluded falsehood than in God’s Own words and saving acts coming miraculously through His sent messengers—and that, divinely timed![3]

This phenomenon of being so trapped in spiritual bondage to other persons or familiar places, even to our own detriment…and, so deaf to the voice of God simultaneously, so spiritually blind, is often referred to as “soul ties”—which make one bound to the wrong entity as tightly as a vessel tied to a dock with shipping rope. Loyalty is an honorable thing, so long as such loyalty is attached to the right Person. Christ alone makes us see, untangles the wrong rope, and frees us to follow God.

Remember, our soul should only be anchored in God, tied to Him alone.

His heart is our Home—not a physical place in the world.

We were designed, as vessels, to be filled with Him and to follow Him—

we were made to move.

God will ask us to move forward into the unknown, to follow after His promises in faith. Like Lot and his patriarchs, we are often tempted to revert back to our good old days. This hits strongest when the road becomes long and arduous, when there is little evidence to support our faith, or when provisions run low. Now we can point the finger of blame at Lot and his wife, but many of us Christians make the same compromised choices today—we hesitate to follow after Christ, unless everything is easy to understand, we are popular, and our endeavors are financially rewarded.

To ensure you and I do not fail the “faithful endurance” test, let’s continue looking at the woman who Jesus asks us to be very mindful of…

Once the angels physically moved Lot, his wife, and his daughters from the place where they were—to rescue them from the engulfing sin and God’s just punishments—the angels clearly instructed, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you or stop anywhere in the whole valley; escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed.” Pretty clear instruction! But rather than obeying and remaining CONFIDENT IN OBEDIENCE, Lot became the very voice of confusion and argued the opposite: “Not that, my lords!” he cried. He even acknowledged their rescue, kindness and mercy in their saving grace, yet still persisted, “I cannot…” See the problem here? After all God had done for him, he stated, “I cannot leave…” the life I have built for myself. What an immense lack of faith! He insisted upon his own worthlessness—“I cannot escape to the mountains, lest evil overtake me, and I die” (v. 20, AMPC).

So afraid of the fear of the unknown, so distrusting of God, Lot declared failure over himself. Deception upon deception upon deception—family layers deep. Do you hear the generational echo? “We cannot make it as far as God is asking us to go…” But why not?

The failure here is as simple as a lack of faith.

They had a single, simple choice

to either believe in God or not.

They chose incorrectly.

The angels were in the very process of saving Lot and his wife from evil and sure death—they made the decision to move forward simple, yet Lot could not see that God Himself was the way out (see John 14:6). Lot chose not to believe that God was good and faithful to save him, even though he was talking to two sent, divine messengers!

Lot was so full of the sin of man that he could no longer perceive

the holy decisions and commands of God.

Lot had the audacity to ask these powerful angels if he couldn’t settle yet again for partial obedience and a partial promise—he wanted to settle for only part of God’s best, because he was convinced following God was just too hard. Therefore, Lot settled in a tiny city called Zoar (meaning: little, insignificant). While he did ultimately leave the city of Sodom, Lot only had a little faith. He settled for only a tiny part of God’s plan for his life.

Behind the scenes of this incredible story, we find that a faithful intercessor had been praying for Lot—uncle Abraham (v. 27)! On the morning after Sodom and Gomorrah’s judgement of fire, Abraham rose up early to find the cities consumed with smoke—he watched this from “the place where he stood before the Lord” the day before, very likely asking God to save Lot and his family not only from the world’s sin, but from their own lack of faith (v. 27, AMPC). Lot may have been spared due to Abraham’s faithfulness to God and his continual prayers to the Lord! Here Abraham reminds us to keep the faith, and keep praying for our families.

What did Lot’s wife do that was so wrong?

Now, let’s shift our focus to Lot’s wife—she doesn’t have a name; she could be an exemplification of any one of us who lacks the courage to endure significant life change. In the passage, she had apparently disobeyed the angel’s detailed instructions and she “looked back” and became a “pillar of salt” (v. 26)—however, this is far more traumatic than we imagine it to be. This is why, in the New Testament, Jesus distinctly calls her choice and her fate to our attention:

When asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs…Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man: People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve his possessions. Likewise, let no one in the field return for anything he has left behind. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:20a, 26-33, BSB).

Interestingly, Jesus names Lot’s wife here, not Lot (who predominates the Genesis 19 story). There are not many words that explain what was going on with her specifically, yet Jesus points us in her direction. However, if one studies the few words which do surround her in the Scriptures, in depth, there is a treasure trove of information (Mark 4:24b, AMPC). Here are some observations:

The original Hebrew of Genesis 19:26 includes the following Hebraic terms: But his wife, following [far] behind (achar), looked back/fell out (nabat), and she became stationary (netsib, a post of the foe) salt (melach, or powder; easily pulverized and dissolved; a saltpit).[4]
Lot’s wife lingered “far behind”—or achar, indicates that she hesitated even more than Lot. The Hebrew term for “behind” means to tarry, hinder, delay or to remain and stay.[5]
“Looked back”—or nabat, is not just a glance or a consideration. It means to longingly look, to lust after, to respect! This can manifest as a pervasive “homesickness” that permeates our thinking and clouds our forward vision. Perhaps Lot’s wife was thinking of her two sons-in-laws, engaged to be married to her daughters. These two young men did not listen to Lot’s warnings, did not believe in God’s salvation, and consequently perished. How anyone could “respect” such wickedness—as was in Sodom and Gomorrah—shows how deluding sin can be to the human mind. It typically involves the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10). Moreover, the object of our “homesickness” is to be in Heaven, with the Lord; it is not meant to be directed on earthly things or shades of the past, no matter how pleasant (Hebrews 11:15, Psalm 84:2). In this case, to be longing for so sinful a place is a perversion of the concept of “home”.

George T. B. Davis writes (emphasis, author’s):

Lot’s wife not only “looked back” to where her heart’s interests were, but she lingered behind; and probably overtaken by the fire and brimstone, her dead body became encrusted with salt, which, in that salt-packed area now the Dead Sea, grew larger with more incrustations—a veritable “pillar of salt.” In fact, at the southern end of the Dead Sea there is [now] a [physical] mountain of table salt called Jebel Usdum, “Mount of Sodom.” It is about six miles long, three miles wide, and 1,000 feet high.[6]

It appears that Lot, though he argued and complained, did in fact leave Sodom. Lot’s wife somehow did not; she stayed. Remember, God sees the heart and reads our individual amount of loyalty in it (1 Samuel 16:7).

Christian faith not only requires us to outwardly obey

the spiritual promptings of God through His Word,

it also requires us to be loyal to Christ in our hearts.

A good metric of our level of faith is our level of calmness, security, and even joy in being so moved by God—can we maintain our peace and steadfastness regardless of our circumstances? Can we remain grateful for God’s Divine Interventions and Interruptions and even say so? How many times has God moved us, even sent us messengers, yet we long to “go back” to what we perceive to be simpler or easier times? When we long for the “good old days” excessively, we lose strength spiritually and can fail to lay down a clear path for the next generation.

Some of our memories can be very pleasant, and we treasure them, but the holy ones do not hinder us, but compel us on in the things of God. Those special souls God placed in our life, in our past, laid merely a foundation—our starting place, so we would “go on with God” all the days of our lives, and prayerfully become a Godly example to others in our day. Abraham did his best with Lot. Likewise, God wants to accomplish much through His saints on the earth today! It still requires our faith, forward movement, and a very good attitude. Our young people need faithful, God-fearing examples—people who can endure hard times and keep God in front.

But why salt?

So why was Lot’s wife turned into a “pillar of salt”? It is a mystery of God to be sure, but when one studies the elemental nature of “salt” it is to be a “pervading substance” that is “sharp” to the taste. In fact, it is so sharp, it can become “caustic” when it is not “diluted with water”—which in our case is the Word of God.[7] As believers, we must be tempered with God Himself to remain in balance and effective and useful to His Kingdom. Christians are to keep their saltiness, not waste it!

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot (Matthew 5:13).

We might conclude that Lot’s wife lost her saltiness—her Godliness, her true Protection—and thusly was consumed with the acidic corrosion of the world. Ultimately, her faith became useless: “easily pulverized” and turned to powder, trodden underfoot by man. This was the unfortunate result of mourning her past and aligning her soul with mankind rather than God alone. Remember, you and I do not live to please man, but God!

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10, NIV).

Since her interior, her soul, was misaligned, Lot’s wife lost the will to move forward in God. Ultimately, she chose the ways of the world and its chaotic disorder over God’s marching orders and His freedom and ultimate blessing.

Lot’s wife did not humble herself under the mighty hand of God.

Therefore, she disappeared from the biblical story,

except as Jesus’ example to us of what not to do.

She is Jesus’ warning to us today.

As Christians, we can become saddened, even depressed of spirit, when God moves us (which is often a sign of an authentic calling!). We can, like Lot’s wife, even see God’s evidence, His fruit in our lives, yet still get sullen, or offended, to the point we refuse to move forward in God. Jesus tells us times will get hard, but “blessed” is she who “takes no offense in Me” (see Matthew 11:6, John 6, full chapter). The result of continuing in this offence and lack of faith is ultimately spiritual death.

God will ultimately give a person over to their choices.

So join me today in choosing life,

so we and our descendants might live

(see Deuteronomy 30:19).

To see God’s Promises come to pass, we must keep moving, for God is on the move (see Matthew 19:29; Luke 12:49-53)! The wilderness, no matter how long our individual journey through it, is a test. So let us determine today to pass our test! You see, the Words of the Bible are true, and come true for us today, and as we learn of them, we are also asked to “take a test on them” and to succeed. Jesus said:

For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished (Matthew 5:18, NIV).

Scripture is a guide for living. The event we have studied in Genesis 19 affected individuals, families and nations in the past, but has also impacted all of world history, including the present, and it will impact the future. The choices of one individual ultimately affect the whole pattern of the world.

So how do we, as believers, ensure we do not lose our saltiness?

Firstly, we remain bold in our faith and continue to be on the move for God regardless of current events! Now, this may or may not mean a physical move, but it certainly entails spiritual movement, commitment, and action (obedience to God). Salt, by definition, is a compound: a “body compounded of an acid united to some base…formed by the “combination of elements” wherein an acid and base “mutually saturate each other so that the individual properties…are lost.”[8] In other words, our lives are a marriage with God—we are to be in full unity with Him, not the world. In science, when the “acid predominates, it is a super salt” but when the base predominates, it is a “subsalt.”[9] See the difference? In other words, if we want operative power we need to let God actively use us and not long to revert back to our base, to doing nothing and going nowhere. We are not to become lazy in our faith, or dejected or disillusioned with the sinfulness of man. We have Christ on the inside of us! Let Him permeate your life in every way. Always, always be mindful of the truth that God is entirely Providential. He allows circumstances in order to teach us things, to purify some things, but they will never overpower us (1 Corinthians 10:13). God is in control.

Another lesson we can glean from Lot’s wife is to be very careful that what we “combine with”—on every level of our life—is God alone, not the ways of the world, for we do not want to experience false alliances, where our Christian identity dissolves and God has to rescue us, and reteach us the first principles of Salvation over again (Hebrews 5:12, AMPC). Rather, God is our Family. Unity with God is the result of Christ’s Priestly Prayer (see John 17). Like Abraham in Lot’s case, Christ is our Intercessor.

Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them (Hebrews 7:25, AMPC).

Our faithfulness to God ensures we are on track for a super life,

rather than a subpar one.

In chemistry, batteries produce and give off energy as their integral elements traverse between a base and an acid—a negative (anode) and a positive (cathode). Strong acids, such as those found in car batteries, are considered “strong” because the acid produces ions when dissolved in water. In other words, to maintain our saltiness means to remain full of the energy and Word of God, being saturated with His properties, producing much holy energy along the journey as we leave our base foundations and enter into His plan, into the fuller presence of God, into His promises for our lives. We are to continually come up higher, not revert back to our base or former years. We are to stay sharp!

It requires much faith and diligence

to produce elevated results for God!

Baseness, as opposed to saltiness, is the “lowest and gravest part of music; a reduction of value by the mixture of meaner metals; to be low in spirit, vile, mean and dishonorable; [to consider and render oneself] worthless; [to be] cast down; confounded, confused and ashamed.”[10] It literally means, “the bottom” or a base existence.

However, God is the lifter of our head! He wants us to think along these lines:

I am the head and not the tail! I am above and not beneath (see Deuteronomy 28:13)!
I lend to many nations and I never have to borrow (see Deuteronomy 15:6, NLT).
I am a joint heir with Christ (Romans 8:17)!

By mindfully considering Lot’s wife, we learn that she returned to baseness and vileness through a lack of belief. She was disobedient to God and clung to materiality and her own perceptions rather than God’s spoken word. Her life literally became worthless as a result of her heart’s desire, because it was misplaced. She lacked the steadfast faith in God that she needed to journey ahead; she did not accept God’s saving grace. She did not want to follow God out of immediate danger, even to save herself and her daughters from ruin!

Lot’s wife had given up on life and on God’s plan.

Sin, even subtle sin, ruins lives—how we need Jesus! Baseness often starts as a very subtle “looking back” to our staring place, but it can become a “salt pit,” a trapping of the saint, as baseness is also defined as “prison bars”—these cannot always be easily detected by us. Deception is even more prevalent when we compromise and co-exist with persons given over to ever-increasing sin. This erroneous mixture is exemplified by both Lot and his wife in the Genesis 19 passage.

Some primary tactics the enemy uses to entice Christians to return to their baseness or foundational situations:

Fear.
Illness.
Anxiety.
Poverty, or Threats of.
Relational Rejection.
Deception and Forgetfulness (regarding the seriousness of imminent danger and the necessity to leave bondage).
A Lack of Understanding (regarding God’s intervention and the saint’s hard-won freedom, and why it is/was necessary).
A Longing and Lust for Worldly Security and Provision (which will prove itself false; Christ’s heart is the Christian’s true “home”).
An Overwhelming Sense of Unworthiness and Uselessness.
Impatience with God’s Calling.
Extreme Isolation (often valuable and necessary for a saint to hear from God and unite with God; isolation is positive—it means to be made an island, surrounded by spiritual waters; it is only negative when this time is improperly used; Leviticus 20:26; Romans 12:1; Revelation 1:9).

The enemy will try to drive us back today, just as he did Lot’s wife. However, we have been given the mind of Christ and do hold His thoughts and purposes of His heart.

For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart (1 Corinthians 2:16, AMPC).

In this life, we will not understand every nuance of the spiritual war between good and evil. But we get to believe and know that God alone is good and He wins in the end. We still need faith all along our journey into the Promised Land. This is why Jesus tells us to mindfully consider Lot’s wife. We must embrace God’s idea of freedom—for it leads to holiness, protection and blessing. It is far easier on us if we simply believe in the goodness of God. Like the Psalmist mused,

“[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living! Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord” (Psalm 27:13-14, AMPC).

I believe when we are mindful of Lot’s wife and her situation, we discover that she was influenced more by the world, indeed saturated with it, more than she was influenced and saturated by God. She longed for temporal things—human companionship, the false sense of security the world gives—as she considered these her safety net. When we look at the offering of her own daughters to strangers overtaken by perversity, we see how thick her level of deception actually was.

Matthew Henry writes of Genesis 19 (emphasis, author’s):

Lot was good, but there was not one more of the same character in the city. All the people of Sodom were very wicked and vile. Care was therefore taken for saving Lot and his family. Lot lingered; he trifled. Thus many who are under convictions about their spiritual state, and the necessity of a change, defer that needful work. The salvation of the most righteous men is of God's mercy, not by their own merit. We are saved by grace. God's power also must be acknowledged in bringing souls out of a sinful state If God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin. Lot must flee for his life. He must not hanker after Sodom. Such commands as these are given to those who, through grace, are delivered out of a sinful state and condition. Return not to sin and Satan. Rest not in self and the world. Reach toward Christ and heaven, for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not stop. Concerning this destruction, observe that it is a revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners of all ages. Let us learn from hence the evil of sin, and its hurtful nature; it leads to ruin.[11]

Jesus warns you and I today of the very same level of satanic deception that plagued Lot’s wife. We must not trust in the world’s vain and empty promises. We will never make ourselves more secure through compromise or false alliances—these things are the very basis of insecurity! We must never accept the world’s ways of being and doing over and above God’s ways of being and doing—God is Right and Just.

God does ask us to do the perceptually hard things, such as moving forward into the unknown, into uncertainty, into God’s plan, rather than reverting back. He does require faith all our life through—our life is a journey with Him. He also promises He will always be with us, will grant us exceedingly good rewards, and will have our journey culminate in a Heavenly uniting with Him, and a reuniting with our true Christian family.

Whatever God asks you to leave or to give up, He always has your betterment in mind. His ways are worth all of the effort!

Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy (Isaiah 61:7, ESV).

God is the blessing, the peace, the security. To bless us more fully, He asks us to “take His hand” and let Him lead us out of our former shame and dangers. We will, in turn, leave all of the things that are over and done with. This does not require anxiety or depression to achieve, rather, the opposite! We can cherish our fond memories, continue Godly traditions, pass on biblical morals, and enjoy the good things about our lineage—we can enjoy all of these as long as we also keep the faith for what is ahead. God cannot use us effectively if we are always sliding back down the ladder and spending tomorrow’s precious energy missing yesterday. The opposite stance of Lot’s wife is this:

Look ahead and have hope, Church!

It is time to get back up and reengage in the battle. We are designed in such a way that we cannot move forward in life by looking backward; we cannot move up by looking down—we are not going that way! No, to be effective for the Kingdom of God we cannot dodge to the left or right, but we must continue straight on ahead with God. We cannot lust after things, or places, or people that are not His will for us. You and I must give God first place in our interior or we cannot affect the sinful world with the Gospel. We cannot keep our saltiness!

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:333, KJV).

“…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31, NIV).

When we consider Lot’s wife, the simple message becomes crystal clear. No matter what happens…

Follow God;
Trust God;
Believe that God is all-powerful and good; and
He Himself will reward you in the open.

God will restore all that was lost. God is just. This world is temporal—its systems and its structures are temporary—in the process of decay. God, on the other hand, is Eternal, Forever, and He does not change. There is no darkness in Him.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes] (James 1:17-18, AMP).

Be bold. Be brave.

Christ Jesus Himself will ensure that you overcome.

Then I saw a new sky (heaven) and a new earth, for the former sky and the former earth had passed away (vanished), and there no longer existed any sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, all arrayed like a bride beautified and adorned for her husband; Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God.

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away. And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new. Also He said, Record this, for these sayings are faithful (accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy) and true (genuine). And He [further] said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I [Myself] will give water without price from the fountain (springs) of the water of Life.

He who is victorious shall inherit all these things, and I will be God to him and he shall be My son.

But as for the cowards and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God) and all liars (those who knowingly convey untruth by word or deed)—[all of these shall have] their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven final plagues (afflictions, calamities) came and spoke to me. He said, Come with me! I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

Then in the Spirit He conveyed me away to a vast and lofty mountain and exhibited to me the holy (hallowed, consecrated) city of Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God,

Clothed in God’s glory [in all its splendor and radiance]. The luster of it resembled a rare and most precious jewel, like jasper, shining clear as crystal (Revelation 21:1-11, AMPC).

God bless you on your journey to your Forever Home.

I encourage you today to take Jesus’ hand and don’t look back. He knows where He is leading you—directly to your Promised Land.

Give

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE and BIBLE STUDY:

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1, NLT).

They were even more astonished and said to one another, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to Him, “Look, we have left everything and followed You.”

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Mark 10:26-31, BSB).

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…” (Romans 4:18, NIV).

CONSIDER THIS: Sometimes it takes longer for God to answer prayer than we think. Some prayers are answered immediately, some within a couple days or a few weeks, but some prayers take a lifetime. All prayers are eternal. When considering the promises of God, and praying for them to come to pass, it helps us to understand that the cog that is turning in God’s mind is far larger in scale and scope than the cog that is turning in our own mind. Give God His time. Jot down prayers you believe God is in the process of answering for you…

STUDY QUESTIONS:

How do we, as believers, ensure we do not lose our saltiness?

Firstly, we remain bold in our faith and continue to be on the move for God regardless of current events! What does this mean to you? If you are studying this in a group, consider discussing what this means for you as individual believers or as the Church of Christ at large.

Secondly, we can glean from Lot’s wife that we are to be very careful that what we “combine with” is God alone, not the ways of the world, for we do not want to experience false alliances, where our Christian identity dissolves… Can you think of a time in your life when this happened to you? How did God save you from it? What might this mean for you moving forward?

Our passage of study communicates a strong warning against compromising with sinners and forging false alliances—things which we see happening in our society today. It has been said that Christians are to affect unbelievers, for the sake of Christ. However, when sinners start infecting Christians, this is going too far and leads to compromise. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Read the Revelation 21 passage above again. List several ways that you think Lot’s wife contrasts the Bride of Christ (His Church) in the Book of Revelation. Likewise, contrast Sodom and Gomorrah with God's holy city, the new Jerusalem.

Who is Lot’s wife to you? Why do you think Jesus wants you, personally, to stay mindful of her?

Read Isaiah 54:5. Whose wife are you? (Additional reading: Song of Solomon, full book. Was it the king she was looking for, or the King of all Kings? Which are you looking for?)

TRANSLATIONS:

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

King James Version (KJV), Public domain.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch. “Genesis 19,” Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1857). Retrieved September 10, 2023 at https://biblehub.com/commentaries/kad/genesis/19.htm These men were given over to homosexual sin. The sin in the city of Sodom became so extreme due to its comfort, luxury in materiality, and debauchery, God destroyed the city. One commentary states the “sin of paederastia” is the “curse of heathenism generally,” which we have seen percolating to the surface in these trying days.

[2] The term “sin” can be equated to “spiritual suicide,” which ultimately manifests itself against its host, like a parasite. See Galatians 6:7-9.

[3] If Lot’s wife was consumed from the flames, solidified as it were in salt and brimstone, and Abraham was still seeing smoke, the angels sent to Lot and his family rescued them “in the nick of time”, as it were. What are the odds of that, if not for Divine Timing? God often gives us every last second to see if we will be obedient to His voice and His Word before He acts in natural circumstances, and the terrors of this spiritual conflict on the ground ultimately become a method or mode of preservation—working all things out for good for those called according to His purposes. He literally saves lives along with eternal souls.

[4] Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Retrieved September 10, 2023 from https://biblehub.com/hebrew/4417.htm

[5] Brown-Driver-Briggs. 309 Achar. Retrieved September 10, 2023 from https://biblehub.com/hebrew/309.htm

[6] George T. B. Davis. Rebuilding Palestine According to Prophesy. Literary Licensing, LLC (2013).

[7] Rosalie Slater. Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language (1995).

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary. “Genesis 19:5.” Retrieved September 10, 2023 at https://biblehub.com/commentaries/genesis/19-5.htm

DAWN DYSON