Genesis 19 Devotional

Pulled Out by Mercy

“But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them.”Genesis 19:16 (BSB)

Genesis 19 shows how far Sodom had fallen. When the two visitors arrive, the men of the city surround Lot's house and demand to violate them, and Lot, shockingly, offers his own daughters instead (19:4-8). The visitors strike the attackers blind and urge Lot to flee, but even at dawn he hesitates. So they take him, his wife and his daughters by the hand and lead them out, because the LORD had compassion on them (19:16). Fire falls on the cities of the plain, Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt, and the chapter ends with a dark sin by Lot's own daughters.

There are no heroes here. Lot is rescued because God is merciful, and because God remembered Abraham, who had prayed (19:29). Peter points to this rescue as proof that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for judgment (2 Peter 2:7-9). Our rescue, too, rests on mercy, not on how quickly we run.

To think about: What is God's mercy pulling you away from that you are still hesitating to leave?