Bad Girls of the Bible Part 8

9. She clung to memories of the past and dreaded her future.

Mrs. Lot was a sandwich-generation woman, not sure what life might hold for her-scared of going forward, frightened of going back.

10. She didn't trust her husband's G.o.d.

Lot gave the Lord lip service, but then again, Lot gave everyone lip service. If his G.o.d caused all that fire and smoke, who wanted to hang around with a deity like him?

Hubby Bill insisted I include two more possibilities: She left the coffeepot on-one of us usually does-or she and Lot had an argument, and out of habit she whipped her head in the other direction to show the man who wore the bloomers in that household.

None of the above quite hits the mark.

As with Eve, the key is this: She was disobedient. Mrs. Lot wasn't singled out for punishment-"one wrong move and the woman gets it"-but rather, she chose her fate by choosing to disobey the clear command of the Lord.

Sodom didn't see judgment coming, nor did Lot's wife. She merely turned to look back. But "what she saw, the rest of them never knew."14 ...and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:26 Mrs. Lot not only looked, she hesitated, perhaps long enough for the edge of the maelstrom to reach her and wrap her head-to-toe in sodium chloride. At the southern end of the Dead Sea are literal mountains of salt. Such is the substance that whipped itself around Lot's wife, smothering her in seconds as it "encrusted her and built round her a sarcophagus."15 This wasn't a unique punishment, separate from the one that leveled her city. By lingering behind and looking, she chose to identify with her neighbors who also were doused with salt and peppered with sulfur. But unlike them, she had had the chance to escape. She was offered salvation yet turned away from it. In doing so, Lot's wife "became a shrine of unbelief."16 Oh, sisters! How many times in my young adult years did G.o.d take me by the hand and lead me away from my destructive lifestyle, urging me not to look back but to press on to something better?

I didn't believe him. I didn't trust him.

I liked my pitiful, party lifestyle and my apartment full of stuff-most of which has since been thrown out or sold at a yard sale for a quarter. What was I hanging on to? Why, at the last minute, so close to a clean, new life in Christ, did I turn back toward death again? And again?

Stubborn pride. Foolish youth. Willful disobedience.

I deserved what Mrs. Lot got. I deserved to die for my sins, just as the Word cautions, "For those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger."17 But because G.o.d loves us so completely, he shoves us forward toward safety and light and life...then turns back and faces the heat on our behalf. What a hero! What a Savior!

We're turned into salt, all right. But not the kind that kills. The kind that gives life. "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."18 Early the next morning Abraham got up... Genesis 19:27 Stop right there! No reaction from Lot? From the girls? That's it for Mom the Saltshaker? The poor woman truly had "the shortest biography in literature."19 My friend Sara admitted she'd always felt sorry for Lot. "Imagine trying to explain to people offering their sympathy! 'Did your wife pa.s.s away? I'm so sorry. What happened?'"

"Well..."

If the angels had never commanded her specifically not to stop and not to look back, we would feel nothing but empathy for her. Poor thing. She didn't know it was wrong. She didn't understand the consequences. She was merely a victim of a cruel G.o.d's wrath.

But she was told. She did know. We do too.

When a woman dies apart from G.o.d, wrapped in her sin like a shroud, life continues without her. One might question if she ever really lived at all, since the woman "who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives."20 The sad tale of Mr. and Mrs. Lot and the destruction of Sodom is valuable for one reason: Jesus used it as a sermon ill.u.s.tration.

"It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed." Luke 17:30 Just like what? Like the destruction of Sodom.

Unexpected. Destructive. Absolute.

"On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them." Luke 17:31 But wouldn't a person have to go back down into his house to get out? Not in those days. Throw a rope over the edge of the roof and climb down, buddy. More on that when we get to Rahab's story in chapter 7. The message for twenty-first-century believers is clear: Don't look back!

"Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything." Luke 17:31 In other words, drop your plowshares (or your laptop or your cell phone) and haul tunic!

"Remember Lot's wife!" Luke 17:32 This is why the example of Lot's wife is important. Not because a woman was turned into salt, however strange and fascinating the concept. But because Jesus employed it as a teaching tool-a history lesson-to help prepare his followers for his future revelation.

The Lord's message, then and now, is the same one the angels delivered: "Don't stop. Don't look back. Take my hand and walk with me to safety."

What Lessons Can We Learn from Lot's Wife?

Actions speak a lot louder than words.

For all his endless questions, Lot was, in the end, obedient. But for all her silence, when decision time came, Lot's wife disobeyed. The Lord can handle our questions. What grieves his heart is our poor choices. O Father, help us see that every time we turn the wrong way we risk losing something of greater value-our close walk with you.

"The LORD is a G.o.d who knows, and by him deeds are weighed." 1 Samuel 2:3 When G.o.d says walk, walk!

The angels gave clear commands. So does G.o.d's written Word. Yet Lot and his family hesitated, as if waiting for the angels to suggest a different idea, something they'd find more appealing. The Lord already knows the best itinerary for our lives. When he shines a light on the path by his Spirit and hands us a map in his Word, let's stop hesitating and start walking!

I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. Psalm 119:101 The escape route is clear: Jesus Christ.

The Lord used Mrs. Lot's story to make a point. When he returns, we are to be ready to follow without hesitation, forsaking everything. Salvation is offered freely but at a price: our old lives in exchange for new lives in Christ. His grace has no limits...except time. The day will come when we must abandon all and follow. Since we know neither the day nor the hour, the question is, could we drop everything and go right now?

How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? Hebrews 2:3 Stuff is temporary. Life in Christ is eternal.

Okay, I admit it. I like stuff. Over the years I've collected several items that have great value to me, mostly because of where they came from, not what they cost. Even those are tarnished junk compared to what we have waiting for us in heaven. Pray with me to let go of the power that material things hold over our hearts. Pray for a clear vision of the future, when the stuff, like dross, will burn away, and only that which is gold-faith, hope, and love-will remain.

"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" Matthew 16:26

Good Girl Thoughts Worth Considering

1. Do you know women like Lot's wife-exceedingly quiet, willing to let their husbands make the important decisions? What is the plus side of such reticence? What are the dangers? Where do you fall on the scale of quiet to noisy? How does the quieter approach help or hinder our relationship with G.o.d?

2. Why did G.o.d spare Lot and his family? Did they deserve such grace? How can you explain G.o.d's patience with Lot and his wife? Do you try G.o.d's patience at times? Do you deserve G.o.d's grace? How can you accept it?

3. This business of Lot's offering his daughters to the men of Sodom-how do you handle a story like that? Turn away from it? Hide it from your children? Get angry about it? Learn something from it? Is that story only suited to ancient times, or do we see anything similar happening today? If so, how are we to respond?

4. Lot's sons-in-law laughed at him-why? Have you ever told someone bad news and had him or her laugh? We all have people in our lives who are headed for eternal punishment. Should we tell them and risk being laughed at, as Lot was? How do you handle people who ridicule your sincere attempts to show them an escape route?

5. Has the Lord ever given you directives as clearly as the angels did to Mrs. Lot-"Don't look!" or "Don't stop!"? Were they difficult to obey? Is a "don't" harder to obey than a "do"?

6. Why did Lot ask to run to Zoar rather than the mountains? Do you ever bargain with G.o.d like that? What are we to learn from Lot's example of asking for another option?

7. Of the suggested reasons Lot's wife turned back toward Sodom, which one makes the most sense to you? Why aren't we told more about Lot's wife in this story and, in particular, about her decision to turn back? Did she want to perish, or would she have seen it as an accident? Or...as punishment?

8. What's the most important lesson you've learned from the salty tale of Lot's wife?

4.

DYING FOR A DRINK.

I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool

something that was flowing over my hand. That living

word awakened my soul, gave it light, joy, set it free!

HELEN KELLER.

Hey, blondie! Pour us another round, will ya?"

Crystal wiped her hands on a damp dishtowel and tossed it in the direction of the tiny sink tucked under the bar. "Hold your horses, Wayne. I'm coming." Grabbing a round serving tray, its cork surface stained with every kind of libation the Oasis had to offer, she sauntered over to a pair of tables that'd been shoved together to accommodate half a dozen men. One by one, they turned to give their waitress a once-over.

Nothing new there.

"Attagirl." Wayne winked one bloodshot eye at her. "There's a big tip waiting for ya at closing time, honey." His leer stretched above a beard-stubbled chin that begged for a razor. "That is, if you get my drift."

She gave him a withering glance. "The only thing drifting around here, Wayne, is your memory." s.n.a.t.c.hing two dirty gla.s.ses off the table, she banged them onto her tray. "We used to be married, or have you forgotten? I know for a fact there ain't a thing worth waitin' for past closing time." She paused for effect. "If you get my drift."

His buddies around the table howled at that one. Serves him right. What was he doing there anyway? He knew she tended bar every Monday night except during football season, when too many people came in and chances were good that more than one bad memory would stroll through her door.

Crystal liked things quiet.

Tonight was just right. Wayne's table, two or three couples-that was it. No ha.s.sles. Except for Wayne, and he was hardly a threat. Now if Lowell showed up, that was a problem. Another ex-husband, but not nearly so tame. Life'd be a lot easier if Lowell would go ahead and marry that red-haired hussy instead of dragging the girl around town from one wobbly barstool to the next.

Jimmy had married again. Why couldn't Lowell?

Or at least skip town, like Richard had. And good riddance to you, fella.

Or drop dead, like poor Bart Jackson. The only one of the five who hadn't sued for divorce. The sucker died before he'd gotten the paperwork together.

Balancing her tray on one bony hip, she offered the motley crowd a cool, practiced stare that never failed to keep her male customers in line. "What's everybody drinking?"

They mumbled their orders-a Dewar's, two bourbons and branch, a Miller Lite, Johnny Walker Black Label on the rocks. She nodded and turned toward the bar, narrowly missing a playful pinch from Wayne.

Good thing Mick wasn't around to see that. They weren't married-after five trips to the altar, what was the point?-but Mick had a jealous streak as wide as the Columbia River and every bit as wild. When storm clouds showed up in the man's eyes, she got out of the water fast.

Pouring the orders with a steady hand, Crystal kept one eye trained on the door. For no reason she could get a handle on, a sense of expectation hung in the air, thicker than the smoke from Wayne's Marlboros. Mick was working at the Bonneville Lock and Dam until midnight, so he wouldn't be darkening the Oasis door anytime soon. But something-or someone-was coming, she was sure of it.

Stooping to pick up a bottle cap, she slipped a loose strand of hair behind her ear, making a mental note to call Glenda in the morning and set up an appointment to get her hair chopped off. You're forty-seven, sister! Too old to be wearing her hair all over her shoulders. Who knows, she might even work up the nerve to go back to her own color.

Minus the gray, of course. 'Nuff's enough.

Glenda was one of her few female friends. Women with husbands, boyfriends, and the like-they flat out didn't trust her. Maybe they figured if she'd been through five men, their beau could easily be number six.

Like another man could solve all her problems.

Fat chance there.

With the tray carefully balanced on one hand, she grabbed a stack of fresh c.o.c.ktail napkins and headed for Wayne's table. They were a thirsty bunch tonight. Was this their third go-round or their fourth? Whatever. She was at their service until last call and not one second longer.

The minute Wayne's gla.s.s touched the table, she heard the door close softly behind her. Lawdy, don't let it be Lowell! She turned slowly, slipping the empty tray under one arm, her senses on full alert.

The man was already at the bar. Crystal released a soft sigh of relief. Not Lowell, thank somebody. This guy wasn't one of her regulars. A stranger, in fact, dressed in plain clothes that'd seen a lot of wear and needed a trip through the washer-yesterday.

He was thirsty, no doubt. Probably lonely, too. Most of 'em were.

Moments later she wiped the bar and slapped a square white napkin in front of him. "What'll it be, sir?"

He lifted his eyes to hers, and she shrank back, startled by the depth of his gaze. He had dark hair and eyes, swarthy skin, and was younger than she by fifteen years, easy. Not handsome-not hardly-but she found it impossible to turn away. His eyes looked right through her, as if he could see down inside her soul. As if she had one.

Truth was, the guy gave her the creeps.