2 Peter 2:7-10. “…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.”
Lot is not necessarily a man I consider “righteous” when I read Genesis. And yet here he is, counted among the faithful, among the righteous whom God saved out of the wickedness of Sodom.
And so Lot becomes a prototype for me. He found himself living in Sodom thanks to decisions he made as a young man. He thought the green fields near that city were perfect for his flocks. And, no doubt, they were. Living in proximity to that city, he probably began a trade with them. His dealings might have lead to marrying a wife from that city (which would explain her reluctance to leave it). Once married, moving into the city would be a natural decision. Once in the city, once fully entrenched, it would be a difficult thing to leave, no matter how distressing the morals of that culture.
We, as Lot, have found ourselves in a land of “unprincipled men”. Like Lot, in living among them, we feel our righteous souls tormented day after day by their lawless deeds.
In the Genesis account, the lesson seems to be that when angels show up on your doorstep saying, “run”, you run.
In Peter’s second letter, it seems to be a similar message: God will “rescue the godly from temptation,” even as He keeps “the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”
In both Genesis and 2 Peter, God gives us the action to take, then we are to take it.
Even as we live in the midst of moral depression and sexual depravity, God knows how to rescue us. But as Peter said earlier in his letter, “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.” He granted us these things so that we could “become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” This is why we need to be diligent in our faith, as Peter wrote, through moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. All of these traits are hard to achieve, but our building up this series of traits in us is the way God has given us to escape temptation, and to escape the effects of this wicked generation.
Faith Gym 