The LORD’S Compassion for Us
Sin is enticing sometimes.
Oftentimes, the enticement of sin beguiles.
Mankind has not changed since the beginning of time, and we know this is so because as we read the biblical accounts of men, women, and children—we see them trapped in the temptations to sin.
“When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
(Genesis 19: 15-17 NASB)
But he hesitated.
[Lot hesitated in the LORD’S command]
So the [angelic] men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters,
for the compassion of the LORD was upon him;
and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.
When they had brought them outside, one [of the LORD’S angels] said,
“Escape for your life!
Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley;
escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.”
There once lived a nephew, a nephew related to a great man of God, the son of a brother to a chosen man who walked with God. Abraham was chosen by God to become the father of nations, & he had a brother who had a son—Lot. Just like all mankind, Abraham’s nephew Lot was entrapped in his own sinful desires, wanting what the devil tempted him to want, sin that beguiled and enticed.
BUT GOD HAD COMPASSION FOR HIM!
We know this is true because why in the world would the LORD destroy two cities, and the valleys, the people, and everything that existed within the territory—BUT NOT DESTROY A MAN NAMED LOT & HIS FAMILY. Why would the LORD command His two angels to drag this man Lot to a new place so he would not be destroyed in the fire and brimstone?
IT WAS ALL BECAUSE GOD HAD COMPASSION FOR HIM!
- We may scratch our heads at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, wondering how a multitude of people can become so entangled in their sins.
- We may ponder how could sane people do what the people of those two cities did as they approached Lot’s house that night.
- We may even wonder why Lot even chose to remain in those cities when the LORD’S two angels approached him about the LORD’S destruction.
- However, we struggle to understand why the LORD would call a man ‘righteous,’ a man who desired to remain in such a sin-laden place.
The apostle Peter was given insight by the Holy Spirit to explain to us WHY.
“For if God
- did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
- and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
- and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;
- and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men
(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),
then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation,
and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”
(The Second Letter of Peter 2: 4-10a NASB)
- Lot was not eager to leave, and in fact, Lot and his family had to literally be dragged out of the place where they resided. Oftentimes, we are entrapped in sin, surrounded by it so much on all sides, that we begin to become immune to the fact that GOD STILL CALLS SIN—SIN!
- Lot was not rescued from the cities the LORD was about to destroy because he was a good and righteous man in his own might. NO, LOT WAS A SINNER JUST LIKE US!
- Lot was a sinner SAVED BY GOD’S GRACE!
- Lot only became ‘RIGHTEOUS’ BECAUSE HE WAS RESCUED BY GOD!
GOD OFFERS US ALL HIS MERCY—NOT GIVING TO US WHAT WE DESERVE FOR OUR SINS!
&
GOD OFFERS US ALL HIS FREE GIFT OF GRACE—GIVING TO US WHAT WE CAN NEVER AFFORD OR DESERVE—ETERNAL LIFE WITH HIM!
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
(The Second Letter of Peter 1: 2-3 NASB)
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
It is the LORD’S Compassion for Us!
- THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY gives us His righteousness when we turn from our sins & walk anew with HIM. This is a daily turning away from the enticements and temptations of Satan who seeks only to kill, devour, and destroy!
- THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY calls us ‘righteous’ even though we are sinful creatures through and through!
- THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY grants us ‘HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS’ because we choose: to Accept His Gift of Salvation, to Believe in His Son Jesus, & to Confess our Sins!
- THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY leads us day-by-day to walk in the newness of life only HE CAN PROVIDE!
- THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY allows us opportunities to witness, to testify to others of the LORD’S goodness, might, and amazing grace, telling them our story, telling them HOW GOD CHANGED US & HOW GOD CAN CHANGE THEM TOO!