This Tuesday we will be reading Chapter 3 of Liz Curtis Higgs’s Bad Girls of the Bible: And What We Can Learn from Them on Lot’s wife. We read about Lot’s wife in connection with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. Please read the Biblical account before Tuesday.
Lot’s wife is one of the more intriguing stories in Scripture. Lot is Abraham’s nephew. When Lot and Abraham move into the Promised Land, their herds were too large for them to stay together, and Lot was given the opportunity to take whatever area he wanted, and he chose to settle near Sodom. Gen. 13. Later when the three angels visit Abraham to announce the pending pregnancy of Sarah, these angels also pronounce the pending destruction of Sodom. Gen. 18. Abraham negotiates with God so that God agrees not to destroy Sodom if only ten righteous men are found. Gen. 18:32. Unfortunately, ten righteous men were not found in Sodom, and therefore the angels visited Lot to make him leave. On his way out, the angels said do not look back. Regrettably, Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. Gen. 19:26.
The question is why was she punished? What lessons can we learn about why looking back renders us immobile? How is the story of Lot’s wife a wonderful example of the dangers of remaining in the past or the dangers of having an affinity with those to whom we do not belong? How do you personally see the story of Lot’s wife playing out in your own life? In what ways have you become a pillar of salt by looking backward and not forward?
Mrs. Higgs’ blog post on Mrs. Lot is HERE. Her discussion question this week is:
Fewer phrases are sadder than the ones that begin, “If only…” For those of us who live with a boatload of regret for our past mistakes, the story of Lot’s wife is a sobering one. What would be the hardest person, place, or thing for you to walk away from? If God asked you to do so, for your own good, how would you respond?
Dinner is at 6. The menu is Chili cheese dog bubble-up-bake. (Vegetarian option available.) Discussion about 6:45. Hope to see you here, and please bring a friend.
To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” But he said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:59-62