Q2. Hesitating in the Face of Danger

[Craig]

Q2. (19:15-16) Why did Lot and his family hesitate? Have you ever hesitated when you should have been fleeing a danger? What is the lesson for us?

 

 

They did not want to leave the comfort and familiarity they had grown accustom to in Sodom.  There also is the possibility that they did not totally believe what the angels were telling them about destroying Sodom.  For example look how many Jews stayed in Nazi Germany, while being warned what Hitler was doing to the Jews.  Change is hard even in the face of danger.  They couldn't wrap their minds around the situation and probably didn't want to believe what was going to happen.  For Lot to up and leave everything behind on the word of these men was probably hard to swallow.  Lot's family was comfortable in the lifestyle of the city.  To go to the mountains would kill Lot and his family. They couldn't handle life in a more primitive setting without the riches and comfort of city life.

 

Yes.  The lesson here is to always be alert and ready to respond to danger, whether physical or spiritual, and move on when you sense or are openly warned about danger.  We must be sensitive to the direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

[Ernie's Son]

Why did Lot and his family hesitate?  Did Lot have too many "attachments" there that he could have been moving in the direction of "looking back"?  Lot probably didn't want to go through all that was involved in moving/leaving Sodom.  Did Lot really know the danger he/family were in?

 

Probably not, to some degree.  Lot may have just wanted to stay and take his chance?  Was Lot dragging his feet while "the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them" (19:16)?

 

Have you ever hesitated when you should have been fleeing a danger?  Probably, many times.

 

What is the lesson for us?  For me, it comes down to either accepting or not accepting wrong cultural values that go against the values of the Bible: there are implications.

 

 

[lighthouse2014]

Q2. (19:15-16) Why did Lot and his family hesitate? Have you ever hesitated when you should have been fleeing a danger? What is the lesson for us?

Lot and his wife probably hesitated to leave Sodom as requested by the angels because they were not totally believing that they were going to destroy the city. Life must have been good for them there or else they would have fled at the first request to leave instead of stalling.

I have been in places where it felt like there was danger present. I left as soon as I could, unless others with me wanted linger for some unknown reason.

The lord, through the Holy Spirit will let us know if the place we are in is dangerous. By his conviction of getting out we should not delay his urging.   

[Rosesam]

Q2. (19:15-16) Why did Lot and his family hesitate? Have you ever hesitated when you should have been fleeing a danger? What is the lesson for us?

There could be many reasons why Lot and his family hesitated. Lot may have wondered whether the angels were telling the truth and whether the destruction was actually going to take place. Peter says that Lot was righteous and his heart was vexed seeing the iniquity of Sodom. Yet he chose to dwell there. Probably he thought he had handled the wickedness earlier, and he could handle it in future too if the destruction of the city was not complete. He also must have lingered probably because he would have thought that his sons-in-law would heed his voice and join him in escaping the soon to be destroyed city. Moreover there would be uncertainty as to what the future holds.

His wife was held by the life in Sodom. She did not want to move away from that lifestyle to an unknown future in the mountains. Moreover all her belongings and all that she had lived for till then was in Sodom. We do not know whether she was a woman raised in that place, but whatever be, the pull of Sodom was much stronger in her life that she chose to defy the commandment of the angels not to look back.

Lot’s daughters must have hesitated as we read their obvious reasoning to have incestuous relationship with their father later in the mountains. They must have wondered how they would propagate and raise a generation after them.

Yes, I think so. Most often we hesitate because we think carnally rather than spiritually. We do not understand the dangers that are involved because of our limited ability to see into the future. The lesson for us is to trust Him in His ways and to be tuned to His frequency so that we can heed to His counsel and His warnings that He gives us daily.

[Godswriter]

Q2. (19:15-16) Why did Lot and his family hesitate? Have you ever hesitated when you should have been fleeing a danger? What is the lesson for us?

I believe they hesitated because his wife had relatives there and didn't believe what the angels were telling them. Also the family was there a long time and must have grown accommodated to living there and also possibly had a position of power as well. Yes many times and now I wish at times I had listened to God back then. That we obey God fully and flee sin.

[Irmela]

(19:15-16) Why did Lot and his family hesitate? Have you ever hesitated when you should have been fleeing a danger? What is the lesson for us? 

Their whole livelihood was there. They had gotten used to and accustomed to this weird lifestyle. Whereto from here?

Yes, I unfortunately have and have been "burnt" because of it. 

Flee and flee from it yet again. Hold onto Jesus, but flee the danger, don't hesitate 

[Krissi]

Why did Lot and his family hesitate?  That fatal glance backward -- remembering the past as rosier than it really was; the allure of the imaginative retelling; dashed pride when recalling old accomplishments and glories -- I think we all look back, at times. We hesitate before the unknown future, then hopefully plunge ahead.

Have you ever hesitated when you should have been fleeing a danger?  Of course I've hesitated instead of fleeing danger. All sin is dangerous. I do think, though, that God has put me in increasingly difficult environments as I have grown in Him, and my hesitation is my fear I'm not up to the task He has called me to do. God doesn't always call me to safe situations. 

Hesitation can also be that moment when I suddenly see the starkness of the choice in front of me. That moment of insight that gives me pause. Someone upthread wrote that God protects us from ourselves. So true. There can be a moment, however, when we realize He had reached down, like Lot's angels, to pull us out of a mess.

What is the lesson for us ?

The lesson is probably different for all of us -- is it not amazing that we all read the same verses and extract different lessons? 

For me, the lesson is that it's often necessary to take a step away from where I am before He gives me my next assignment.  Unless I leave the old, I won't reach His new and better. 

This may be an odd lesson to take away from the story of Lot, but it seems that cities are dangerous places, more so than the countryside where Abraham camped. To go into a city -- in particular, to live in one -- is to court danger. Sin masses in cities like population density. (I'm planning on spending three months in a foreign capital next autumn. I know God is calling me there though I don't know why. Reading this has been a warning to me to e careful and willing to leave on a dime.)

[Bianca]

Maybe it was because they still felt ties in their heart toward the place. Sometimes it can be hard for a person to let certain things go when they are so used to it. Sometimes people get used to certain things and it becomes familiar even if it is not all the way right with what's going on around them but it's familiar to them. Sometimes people would still rather put up with what they already know then walk into the unknown. But what they don't realize that sometimes walking into the unknown is much better then what is familiar and wrong.

 

I am not sure if I have hesitated when fleeing a danger. I hope and stand in faith that I would have the courage to flee if God told me to flee something without hesitation.

 

The lesson for us is that when God asks us to do something it is for our own good. If we do not obey him then it can mean some bad consequences. It could me delays for us. It could mean losses for us. It's just best to do as The Lord says.