Saturday Week 5 – Lot-tery

by | Feb 3, 2018 | Daily Devotional, General |

Scripture Reading for Today: Genesis 19:1-26
 
I want to start today’s devotional by reminding you again of the bible text that is our memory verse for this week:

There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is the way of death – Proverbs 14:12

Disobedience comes in so many different shades and guises, that it is very easy to be deceived by our actions and not realise that we have made decisions, choices or undertakings that have displeased God.
 
In some instances, our acts of disobedience can even be masked by what appears to us to be approval or confirmation from God for our otherwise disobedient actions, lulling us into a false sense of security that can ultimately lead to destruction.
 
God will sometimes allow us to go our own way and go through with our own ideas, even though they may run contrary to His perfect will and His desired best for our lives; not because He is in acquiescence with us, but because of His permissive will, as He chooses to surrender to the path that we have chosen for ourselves to follow.
 
In our scripture reading today, God had sent his angels to Sodom to destroy the city because of their repugnant unrepentant sinning. The Angels warned lot about God’s intentions and instructed him to run up to the mountains, lest he be destroyed with them.

“15At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” 16When Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the LORD had compassion on them. They led them away and placed them outside the city. 17When they had brought them outside, they said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!” Genesis 19:15 -17

Lot disobeyed the instructions:

Even after the angels had clearly expressed God’s imminent action and the urgency of their mission in Sodom, Lot lingered; he hesitated.

18But Lot said to them, “No, please, Lord! 19Your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because this disaster will overtake me and I’ll die. 20Look, this town over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. Let me go there. It’s just a little place, isn’t it? Then I’ll survive.” Gen 19:18-20

Let’s look at Lot’s possible reasons for disobeying:

Influence, Prominence and Possessions
Lot had risen in influence and prominence in the city, that he was now one of those that sat in council at the city gates. Maybe he had a lot invested in Sodom; properties, possessions, wealth that he had acquired over time, that made it hard for him to readily abandon Sodom in obedience to God’s will.

Pride and Presumption
He thought he had a better way and knew better than God.

Compromise and Convenience
He looked for a compromise to the instructions that he had been given:

“This city is near enough to escape to.”

Easy choices can sometimes lead to easy losses

These reasons that affected Lot’s decision to disobey God will often manifest in our own acts of disobedience too. The choices that God has made for us and the paths that He has instructed us to follow may not look as attractive as the “better and more accessible” ones that we have been able to think up with our limited human intelligence.

It may also be that what He is asking us to do is not the most convenient or easiest option in the light of the other choices we have available to us. You may think that the Godly option is not reasonable or sensible as far as you can see. You can think of all these fleshly reasons, and think yourself right out of the centre of God’s will for your life, and walk the paths of disobedience that will cause delay and bring destruction.

Disobedience is like a lottery; there are always a lot more losers than there are “winners”.

Due to Lot’s disobedience, his wife was turned into a pillar of salt; his daughters committed an abominable act with him, and the latter days of his life were very pitiful indeed.

Be careful what you ask for when you pray – God will sometimes let us have our own way when we insist upon it.
 
There are many times in our lives, when we ought to thank God more for what we thought were unanswered prayers and petitions, if we would have known what disasters that God in His mercy has delivered us from by denying our short sighted requests…

There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is the way of death – Proverbs 14:12

Selah,

Pastor Wale Ola

 

LIFE APPLICATION
1. What is God saying to me in today’s message?

2. What was ministered to me in the bible verses that I read today?

3. What are the changes or adjustments I need to make in my life to align with the word of God?

4. What is my commitment to the word for today?

5. What practical steps can I take to benefit from the word I have read today?

 

PRAYER FOCUS
Repent of any act of disobedience that the Holy Spirit will
reveal to you today.

 

Are there any decisions that you have made where you have chosen to do things your way instead of what or how God told you to do?

 

Ask God to show you areas of your life where you have compromised and not fully obeyed His instructions to you.

 

Are there things in your life that you are holding on to, which are preventing you from moving away from the place where you have compromised and
doing what is right by God’s standards?

 

Make a commitment to address and redress these areas that God will reveal to you immediately.

 

Ask God to unveil your eyes, and lead you by |His Holy Spirit, so that you do not make decisions by the flesh, according to what you are hearing,
seeing or feeling in the natural.

 

 

Song For Today: You Won’t Relent – Jesus Culture