Genesis 19:17 “As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said,
“Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
Allow me to offer some advice derived from words
that Angels gave to Lot as he was encouraged to leave Sodom and Gommorah. First of all, there is a great deal that one
can say about the actions that lead to the downfall of Lot. His first mistake was moving toward Sodom. His second was when he moved into Sodom. And finally, even after being taken captive
in the Sodom War and later rescued (by Abraham), Lot still returned to Sodom
and was later found sitting in the City gate of a place consumed with sin and
all sorts of sexual immorality.
However for the purpose of this writing, it is not
my attention to focus on the sin of the city, the judgment of God to rain fire
and brimstone, or the fact that Lot lingered when the Angel told him to leave
immediately. The main goal of this writing is to provide encouragement by
examining the four recommendations that the Angels gave to Lot and his family.
One
-Run for your Life: Which means that even though God
has set you apart and delivered you, and although God has brought you out of
your trouble times, and despite the fact that it was God’s grace and mercy that
has held you by the hand and yanked you up out of some situations, you need to
keep running. Running symbolizes drive
and determination. It represents a will to go forward in God. So it’s not enough to not look back. One must continue to run in order to reach
one’s destiny. Songwriters have a way of
making the point crystal clear. One song
writer put it in this fashion: “Lord I’m
running trying to make 100, 99 and a
half won’t do.”
In order to reach your destiny in life, we must
continue to run. Run to overcome
obstacles; run to rise above haters; run
to shake the devil off; run to get all that God has for your life. Hebrews
12:1 says “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
Two-
Don’t look Back:
Don’t look back to bondage, defeat, despair, hopelessness, and sin. It’s alright to remember where God has
brought you from and how He has blessed you over the years. In fact Psalms 103:2 says “Bless the Lord Oh my soul and forget not
all his benefits.” However, we should
not look back to the things and situations from which God has delivered us.
I often wonder what caused Lot’s wife to look back.
Maybe she missed her old neighborhood, or perhaps she heard the cries and
screams of her village and experienced a moment of weakness as she grew weary
and simply turned around. Whatever the
reason, it halted the plan of God in her life and caused her to perish by
turning into a pillar of salt. But notice
that even as she perished after looking back, the rest of the family kept
moving.
Just because friends and family
experience a moment of weakness and go back to a life of sin, don’t you look
back. Keep pressing and moving on. Do not allow others to make you look back. In Luke 9:62 Jesus said “No one who puts a
hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. Hence let us remember the words of the
Apostle Paul who said, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
for those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Don’t
look back.
Three:
Don’t stop in the Plain The Hebrew word for
plain is mishor which means a level place; Lot and his family could not afford
to stop because it would hinder their progress and halt their overall
destiny. It is easy to get comfortable in
the plains. There is safety in the level
place. When you are out of danger, it
seems appropriate to rest in the plain.
Perhaps after all of your toil and sacrifice, you may feel as though it
is appropriate to stop and enjoy your labor.
However, my advice is to not stop in the plain. Sometimes we quit or stop serving for various
reasons. When things are easy and
convenient, we are tempted to stop because we feel as though we have arrived
when we obtain the new house, marriage, degree or even promotion. And yet on the other hand, sometimes it’s
disappointment and heartache that causes us to quit associated with enduring
struggle, loss of a loved one or even being wounded in the House of God.
But even in the midst of all of this. The Lord wants us to keep running. Keep
pushing. Keep pressing forward because now is not the time for quitting. Don’t stop simply because things have gotten
easy. And don’t stop if things have gotten
difficult. Don’t stop praying. Don’t
stop praising God. Don’t stop believing
in the promises of God. Don’t stop
fighting the good fight of faith. Don’t
stop I the plain. But be steadfast
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know
your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Four:
Flee to the High Place (Mountain) God’s vision for Lot
and his family was peace and safety in the High Place. The High Place was a
place where righteousness abounds. The
High Place in God is a closer walk with God.
And a place of excellence where God brings out your best. It’s a place where
we live above distractions. At the high
place, we walk by faith and not by sight.
God had a blessing waiting on Lot and his family that could only be
found at the High Place. It was as if
the Angel was indirectly saying I will meet you at the High Place. The place of Destiny was the Mountain/High Place. Indeed the High Place in our lives has a
special distinction.
The High Place is- A Place of Separation-
The Bible says “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, says the Lord.” 2
Corinthians 6:17
· A Place that you can’t come down
from- Nehemiah went up to rebuild the walls in
Jerusalem. The enemy did everything he could
to get him to come down. But Nehemiah
said, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work
cease, while I leave it and come down to you (Nehemiah 6:3)
·
A Place of Refreshing-
Jesus said come unto me all those who are weary and heavy laden and I will give
you rest (Matthew 11:28)
·
A Place of Vision-
We see things from a different perspective from the mountain top. Things look different when we are in a high
place. The giants that looked so big in the
valley don’t seem so tall from the High Place.
So get to the High Place. Come up!
That’s where the power is. That’s
where you will experience God’s glory.
We go to the High Place to be filled and refilled by God. So run to the High Place to go higher in your
service, higher in your commitment to God, and higher in your worship. God has victory that is waiting on us when we
go higher. The prophet Habakkuk
recognize this when he said, “The Lord God is my strength and he will make my
feet like hinds’ feet and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.” (Habakkuk
3:19) So run to the High Place because
at the end of the day, it’s the only place of true safety for your soul.
Preach by inviting someone to church. In fact, one of the easiest ways to share the gospel
of Jesus Christ is to extend an invitation to visit your (Bible believing,
Spirit filled) church. Just preach- in
the morning, afternoon, and when the sun goes down, preach. You don’t need a title. So
preach, your family, friends, and neighbors need to know the God that you know
in order to receive the blessings that you have. 
We all have the ministry of reconciliation. Preach. Lend someone a helping hand. Preach. Give Godly advice to a friend and preach. People need to be saved, healed and
delivered. Preach, because many of the
folks you come across will never step foot in church. So Preach about Jesus Christ and the message of
the Cross.
