Series:  The Unfaithful Wives of Righteous Men

Posted on January 6, 2010 by newhope2010

Jesus told his disciples to “remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32).

Have you ever stopped to consider what sort of a woman Lot’s wife was? We do not even know her name but we do know that she had a good husband (2 Peter 2:7-8) and two daughters (Genesis 19).

By the time they came to live in the southern cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, they had been through some pretty tough times together. On at least one occasion after they had left Egypt to live in Canaan, they had struggled to feed themselves and their animals. But God had blessed them and kept them together through hardship and good times alike.

But Genesis 13:13 tells us that “the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.” This really was not a good place for Lot to bring his family.

In the next chapter it tells how civil unrest came to the cities of the plan and Lot was kidnapped and taken away along with all his goods. On this occasion God used his uncle Abram to gain his release and return. Unfortunately Lot chose to keep living in that evil place.

The apostle Peter tells us in 2 Peter 2:7-8 that in the end God “delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds”.

Yes, God knows “how to deliver the godly out of temptation” (verse9).  He sent his angels to speak with Lot and to bring him and his family out of that terrible place.

But in the face of God’s deliverance, Lot’s wife, the mother of his children, lost the plot, it seems.

What a sad account. She just couldn’t leave the past behind. She couldn’t see that God had something much better in store for her and her husband and daughters.

What an incredible sadness that must have been for Lot. To lose his wife because she just could not let go of the past!

She never tasted of the blessings that God had in store for their family.

Mind you, Lot had made some pretty sad decisions up to this point, too. As we see in Genesis 13, he was selfish and did not always choose wisely. His decision to live in Sodom and Gomorrah certainly was a strange one for a man of God. But God was looking out for him.

And this is certainly what God has done for me, too.  He has brought me back from the darkness of Sodom and Gomorrah to enjoy His blessings again.

The Scriptures tell us that Lot’s soul was “vexed” before he left Sodom and Gomorrah. He was a just and righteous man, but he was surrounded by sin. He could not escape it in his daily life, and it seems it had affected his wife more than he realised, for her faith was just not strong enough to keep walking away when God said He was going to destroy that evil place.

There is also a hint here that their relationship had not grown stronger while they had been in that place. Instead of putting her faith in God and in her husband, her mind was filled with doubts and it cost her her life. It is so important for us as Christians to build the personal relationships which bind us together for life and not to neglect our marriages.

But just like God did not want Job to stay there any longer, He wants us to distance ourselves from sin also. He calls us out to serve Him. It is very hard trying to live for God when we are surrounded by negative or evil people or when we surround ourselves with sinful things.

Whenever we are living in sin our souls will be vexed. This is God’s way of keeping tabs on us. It is our conscience at work.

Sadly for some of us, we choose to stay in the world. We choose to stay in sin. We choose the path of bitterness or stubbornness instead of the healing path of God’s deliverance and forgiveness.

Sometimes we see faithful Christians just “lose the plot”. Instead of embracing change for the better, they walk away and forsake even the things they previously loved, even their spouses and families.

© Bevan Collingwood 2010