September 14, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.’ When he hesitated, 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. 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!’” (Genesis 19.1-3a)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I have no idea if Joseph Addison, author of the play Cato: A Tragedy in 1713, had the story of Lot and his family being warned to leave Sodom and Gomorrah before “a tragedy” would occur as God poured out His justice like rain upon them. And if not, then I can certainly do the backward glance through the words of Addison which today have become known out of context. The modern recitation of that quote from Addison’s play to which I refer is this: The one who hesitates is lost. As you reread the verse for today’s “Reflection on God’s Word,” you will see the first and most common application as we understand it. Lot hesitated. Even after all Lot has been through in his life and especially in those few hours of the visitation of “The Two of Three,” he hesitated leaving the city that had become his home. He hesitated knowing that the very place where he stood with his family and all the surrounding area would soon be destroyed by the wrath of a just and good God. The thrust of the common saying, “The one who hesitates is lost,” is used to inspire a person to consider not waiting to make a decision for action that could not be delayed or else the opportunity and the one to whom it could belong would not only pass but be lost and never available again. What a price to be paid for waiting because of a lack of surety. My mother used to remind us, “If you waited to do something until everything was perfectly in place, then you would always be waiting and that is all you would do.” How many of us have been there and know it is true. Of course, even with this we should proceed with moderation because we cannot be foolish and simply rush into things based on feelings and a whim. We need to make informed decisions but we cannot be uninformed of the consequences if we fear making one. In truth, not making a decision is making a decision. Fortunately for Lot, he knew what was right and good, but his sentimentalism was an anchor holding him in place. Only by the grace of God and the hands of the “Two of Three” was Lot saved from death. His hesitation, left to itself, would have been the end of the story of himself and his family.

That would resolve the modern application of the quote/proverb which says “He who hesitates will be lost.” The “he,” of course, in this case would be Lot, the nephew of Abraham. His emotional ties to Sodom most probably are based on the choices he made to make the Jordan River Valley his home. Leaving the “west bank” of Canaan and the Negev to Abraham by default. Even when Abraham had delivered Lot and his family and those connected to Lot as property from an evil king, Lot chose to return to Sodom and Gomorrah. Do not think that the ill and immoral behavior of the residents there happened only in Lot’s day. The culture and climate was most likely entrenched long before Lot arrived. By outward appearances, the cities would have looked like thriving communities. They were bustling with an industry, however, who priority and purpose was self-indulgence into sexual perversions of “man and beast.” How Lot must have compromised himself and his family in order to live there. His business acumen would have served him well. What beside shepherding was his gift-ability is not known, but sitting at the gate of the city would be a placed reserved for the elders. This would have been a high honor, though we can tell from the “men’s” rebuke of him when he would not submit to their request to have sex with the “Two of Three,” which was not recognized by everyone.

This leads us to the original quote from Addison’s play, Cato: The Tragedy. It comes from Marcia, the daughter of Cato, who was in love with Prince Jubel. This love of hers placed her in a difficult position of deciding who to honor. It really was a conflict for the audience as to where their allegiance would have been placed. Would it have been with the Roman ideal represented by Cato? Would it have been with a breaking away into something new as represented by Prince Jubel? In Act IV, Scene 1, Marcia declares, “When love once pleads admission to our hearts, in spite of all the virtue we can boast, the woman that deliberates is lost.” Her decision either way would come with a price. Would she remain faithful to her father and the legacy of culture and prestige he represented as “the glory of Rome”? Or would she forfeit the loss of all that for the sake of her love for Prince Jubel? While the question remains the same as does the wisdom of the phrase whether in hesitating or deliberating, the gender application is what caught my attention. It does so because of what happened to Lot’s wife. After being warning by the two visitors to leave and never look back lest they suffer the fate of those who would not repent and leave, Lot’s wife stood upon the mountain top to which they were directed and turned one last time, literally, to see her home as it went up in smoke. She turned into a pillar of salt leaving Lot and their daughters to move ahead on their own. Was she lamenting their departure and the home she had raised a family in? Was she lamenting a life there she may have become too accustomed to and couldn’t bear the change of routine? Was it just a farewell to the old knowing life would never be the same? She had to deliberate the options. She chose poorly. It makes me think of another situation. The scene was different but the parameter is strangely familiar. Returning to the Garden of Eden where God had warned Adam, and thus Eve, to not do a thing lest they suffer death, Adam watched and listened as Eve deliberated before all was lost. Where was Adam? Where was Lot? Would they dare answer “Am I my wife’s keeper?” Apparently not, Eve took a bit of the forbidden fruit. She did not turn into a pillar of salt, nor did she die in the immediate moment. She did set the course for the rest of humanity to suffer the consequences of “having a choice, deliberating between good/evil and right/wrong, choosing for herself a moment of personal reflection and forever changed her life.”

Such a deliberation and hesitation came with a price for Lot’s wife. Does it do the same for us? Dare we look into eternity with the promise of life and love with God as our Father and look back at the limited resources and prosperity and satisfaction of the world of our past? Are we willing to hold on to what is behind and familiar and risk the joy of our salvation? This is the lesson we can learn from today’s word from God in the story of Abraham. The choice is yours and the consequences are unchanging.

TODAYS’ PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness endeavor, but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.