THE RUINED CITY

   Lot was a man whose life strongly resembled the characteristics of the city
he lived in. Sodom was not known for being a strong city. In fact, one time the
men of Sodom tried to get away with not paying tribute to their master. It 
wasn't long before invaders came, scattering the weak men of Sodom and taking 
away anything they wanted in the city. When God sent Abraham to the rescue it 
is interesting to note that the only thing the king of Sodom cared about was 
that Abraham return any hostages to him. This reveals that the devil was keenly
interested in keeping ahold of all the people who lived in sin in Sodom. The 
people of Sodom never thought about how they were injuring each other in this 
life and in the next by the way they lived.
   It was the same with the way Lot looked at his family. He didn't teach them
the ways of God that he had learned while traveling with Abraham. He felt that
the power of sin in the city was too strong to be able to hope to make a dent
in it. So it was that Lot and his wife clung to Sodom as an alcoholic clings to
his bottle, too weak to delight in it and too afraid to leave it.
   Lot was to weak to defend himself against the situation that he had gotten 
himself into. He could not think of a solution to his problems, and so he 
watched his family becoming drawn into the lifestyle of Sodom without a 
complaint. His sense of right and wrong became twisted. He had no defense 
against temptation except to try to call one evil better than another evil.
   When God sent his angels to destroy Sodom there was nothing that could 
defend the city. In the same way, God knew that Lot was so weak that the only 
way to rescue Lot was to have his angels do for him what he couldn't do for 
himself. The angels sent Lot and his family outside the city and kept him safe 
from the fiery destruction, but there was nothing anyone could do to stop the 
spiritual destruction that Lot had allowed in his own life.

Taken from Genesis 14, 18, 19