September 15, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“But Lot said to them, ‘No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I will surely die.  Look, here is a town near enough to run to and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.‘ He [The Two of Three], said to him, ‘Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.’ (That is why the town was called Zoar as it means “small.”)” (Genesis 19.18-22)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I wonder what message from God who shares this story with Moses in the days and years following the Hebrews release from Egyptian captivity and for their posterity stands out for you? As I first read these verses, my mind got stuck on the boldness of Lot to dare to bargain with the manifestation of “the Lord.” Bargaining is one of the stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance- almost always in that order.) As often as Lot, as well as his uncle Abraham, bargain and barter with their lives and the directives of God, you might say there were fairly “professional” at it. If I were to put one and one together for the two, I would offer for your consideration that they were then “professional grievers.” We hear of such people whose job it was to grieve throughout scripture. Most notably in the story of Lazarus whom Jesus called back into life and out of the grave. When Jesus arrived four days after Lazarus was dead and buried, the house of Martha (and Mary and Lazarus) was surrounded by professional grievers, or mourners. They followed Jesus and Lazarus’ sisters to the place where he had been buried. The stone had been set in place. By this time, the scents of lilac and myrrh and frankincense would have begun to fade. No one would have come to the gravesite at this time (probably not for thirty days according to the rules of purification) because the smell of the rotting corpse would have been great. In spite of their efforts to prepare the body for burial, some things were inevitable. Those mourners were paid professionals. Their grieving for the family was a sign of respect and honor. It was expected (I doubt many would have been truly impacted by the death of Lazarus or the grief of Mary and Martha. Still, they came to their own benefit. I hadn’t really thought much about bargaining with the sense of grieving connected to it. As I consider the fervency with which many “bargain,” I now see how the two may go hand in hand. Fearing what is lost and what can be gained, the bargainer seeks to avoid some sense of death and dying. They might even say “I will die if I don’t get this.” Some, and I know people like this perhaps you do to, would “live for such things.” They derive their identity and value from the things they are bargaining for. It fuels a passion of survival and yields many times to common sense. Do they really need it or is the desire to possess so great they lose their minds?

What was on Lot’s mind but loss and survival. Grieving over the life he had made, such as it was in the midst of perversion and depravity, he hesitated and deliberated. If not for the intervention of the Two of Three, who would have grieved for them. Abraham would have grieved that he could not turn Lot away from destruction he seemed to be sold out to. As I continued to think and pray on Lot’s penchant for bargaining, as if he really had a say over God’s will as he believed he had a say over the will of others, as the theme, I was struck by another characteristic that defined his life. It could be summed up in one simple word: small. We should immediately think of a variety of stories in the Bible where “small” is a critical element. There is David and Goliath, Zaccheus and “faith the size of a mustard seed” to name a few. We hear it in this passage for reflection, too. Lot bargained with the Lord, the “Two of Three,” to not go to the mountains for safety as he was directed. Instead, Lot opted and bargained for permission to go to Zoar. The name in Hebrew means “small.” He declared that he would surely be pursued by disaster if he went to the mountains. In the small town, Lot believed he would be safe. Mighty ones of God, the Lord agreed. I do not believe He agreed with Lot because it was good for him. Just as God told Samuel to let Saul, a giant of a Hebrew, be made king because it was the will of the people, God allowed Lot and his family to go to Zoar. Sometimes, God gives us what we want knowing the condition of our heart, mind and spirit with the hope that we would learn something. Sadly, such a lesson is a hard one and comes with a great price. That price immediately became the loss of the women in his life: his wife to an unfaithfulness (she looked back and became a pillar of salt) and his daughters to incest. Lot thought “too little” of himself and of God to do what was right and good even when he knew that the options to do otherwise were small- little to no opportunity for gain and the greatest reality of loss and death without redemption. What might Lot have feared in the mountains? Mountains were often look at as places of worship for gods and deities. The inhabitants there were thought of as “giants.” It was not uncommon. God appeared to Moses at Sinai. David often spoke to God and of God in the high places. While Jerusalem did not sit on the highest point in Judea, it was one of seven hills and the most advantageous for protection and safety. Even the Greek and Roman mythologies spoke of their gods as those who dwelt on mountains and high places beyond the reach of humanity. Did Lot fear a loss of identity as well as his life in the land of giants? Did he believe it was better to be a big fish in a small pond? Whatever the reason for his fear that led to him bargain with the Lord, the sense of smallness and insignificance was surely a huge part of it. Lot, unlike Zaccheus, did not put himself in a place of advantage nor obedience. He did not want to be seen. He must have believed that he was a failure and as good as dead anyway. He spoke his demise into being. How often do we ignore the instruction of the Lord to flee to the mountain from whence our help comes? Instead, we bargain for our worldly advantage and ultimately find none.

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.