It’s a pretty incredible story. One of God’s condescension. One of Abraham’s intercession. And one of Lot’s almost unimaginable hesitation. Or is it all that unimaginable?

Genesis 18, Abraham’s just hanging out when the LORD, accompanied by two angels, appears to him. After a prepared meal and some pre-natal planning, the LORD lets Abraham in on His present mission: “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to Me” (Gen. 18:20-21). Spoiler alert . . . it’s as bad as the “outcry” indicates.

Abraham knew S & G’s reputation, for that’s where his nephew, Lot, had chosen to live with his herds, his possessions, and his people. And knowing S & G’s reputation — that the Lord would find little to redeem in that place — Abraham begins to intercede for “the righteous within the city” (Gen. 18:22-33). If there’s fifty righteous, asks Abraham, Lord, will you still destroy the city? How about forty-five? How about forty? And so he goes, and so the LORD graciously consents, until finally the LORD answers, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” Another spoiler alert . . . there ain’t even ten.

But there was Lot. Peter, led by the Spirit, refers to him as “righteous Lot” (2Peter 2:7). And so, before the LORD destroys S & G, the angels are first to usher Lot and his family out of the city to a place of safety.

Lot is warned by the angels of the destruction to come, and Lot has no reason to think it won’t happen — it’s gonna happen. So, he gathers his family (Gen 19:12-14).

But then, I read this and it causes me to pause.

As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

Genesis 19:15-16 ESV)

But he lingered . . . That’s what I’m chewing on this morning.

The sin is great. The judgment is coming. The angel rescue team is present. But he lingered.

Lot hesitated. He delayed. He tarried. He was reluctant to leave. How come?

Was it because of the large herds and the many possessions he would have to leave behind — his life’s work? Was it because the utter wickedness of S & G had a way of making his selective, compromising wickedness (Gen. 19:4-8) seem not as bad in comparison — at least in S & G he had a relative righteousness? Whatever the reason, though faced with imminent destruction, Lot lingered.

Lingered from fleeing from sin. Hesitated about choosing the way of the LORD over “the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25). Reluctant to abandon the allures of darkness for the sake of life to the full. Hmm . . .

Instead of judging Lot and asking, “How could he?” — instead of simply finding a moral in this story, I find a mirror.

What causes me to linger? What causes me to hesitate? Where does the reluctance come from — pride, possessions, power — that makes me think twice about fleeing sin?

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

(Romans 7:22-24 ESV)

It is the LORD who will deliver.

The angels seized Lot. They took him by the hand and brought him out . . . the LORD being merciful to him.

Lot’s righteousness ultimately was the righteousness that comes by faith. His rescue the rescue that comes through the gospel. Not earned, not through performance and, as Lot attests, certainly not through perfection.

Though I may repeatedly linger, He steadfastly loves. Though I tarry, He still takes me by the hand.

O, the abundant and abounding grace of God. Who can fathom it? Not this guy.

To God be the glory!