15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16 But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. 17 When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.” 18 But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! 19 “Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; 20 now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved.” 21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. 22 “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called 1Zoar.
23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, 25 and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the LORD; 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.
29 Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
We often look at Lot’s wife as an example of ‘what not to do’ when it comes to sin. “Don’t look back like Lot’s wife,” we always say. But Lot’s fault could be seen as the greater one. In verse sixteen, the angels tell Lot to get moving, before the city is destroyed. “But he hesitated…” What? Is he insane? The city where he lives is going to be destroyed by God, and Lot hesitates? God’s compassion towards Lot was indeed great, because I would have left him right then and there if I were God (good thing I’m not, eh?). Instead the angels grab them by the hands, and drag them out of the city to safety. Sometimes, no matter how apparent our sin is, and how apparent the impending doom of that sin is, we hesitate. We like it here, and leaving it sounds like so much work. Do we really want to have to get used to new surroundings, and a new lifestyle? Wouldn’t we rather just let fate take its course? Yes, sometimes we are that daft, just like Lot. Then God, in His great mercy, gives us a solid kick in the pants that gets us out of danger just in time. Don’t be Lot, get out while you can, and hope it doesn’t take a kick in the pants from God to get you out. Those hurt (not as much as dying, but still…).