Genesis 19:15-16 (NIV) At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!” When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.

When the Lord sent two angels to Sodom to destroy the city along with the city of Gomorrah, Lot met them at the city gate and insisted that they stay with him and his family as his guests. He did this knowing how evil and sinful the people of the city were. But it turned out that all the men in Sodom young and old came and surrounded Lot’s house, demanding that he send the men (who were angels) out so that they could have sex with them. The angels blinded all the men and then told Lot to hurry and gather any other family members from the city. Lot went out to find his daughter’s fiancés but when he found them, they didn’t take him seriously and stayed behind. When morning came, the angels urgently insisted that Lot take his wife and his two daughters and flee the city, because it was about to be destroyed. Even with all of this happening, Lot still hesitated. That’s when we see the incredible mercy of God.

God was determined to save Lot and his family, as he was a righteous man (2 Peter 2:7) even though he was living among a very corrupt and evil people. But Lot, even after hearing what the angels were sent to do and why they were sent to do it, still hesitated. If these angels had been human, they may have just said, “okay, suit yourself, but we warned you!” But they weren’t human. Instead, they were God’s messengers and the Lord had made it clear that Lot and his family were to be saved from the destruction that was coming. So when the angels saw Lot’s hesitation, they grabbed the hands of Lot, his wife, and his daughters and led them out of the city themselves. That is nothing other than the great mercy of God.

How about you? Have you ever been in a place that perhaps you shouldn’t have been in or with people that you shouldn’t have been with? I know some stories of people that were in similar situations, being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. They should have gotten in a lot of trouble (by their own account), but God was merciful to them because they belonged to Him. I wonder how many of us would still be around were it not for the mercy of God that knows no bounds. Everyone one of us that has received Jesus as our Lord and Savior has experienced the great mercy of God. It was not just a little mercy, because even the “nicest” person among us is a miserable sinner at best. We all had “skeletons in our closet” before the Lord Jesus washed them all out with His precious blood. Some of us He grabbed by the hand when we hesitated to receive the gift of salvation. We are saved because he took us by the hand to show us His mercy and grace. I believe that we have a lot of praise and thanksgiving that we need to continually offer up to God for all the mercies that He has shown us and that He continues to show us. Let’s not hesitate to worship Him!

Pastor Joey Vazquez