Genesis 19 - Jokes

The last few chapters of Genesis have been thick with events and experiences. Angels predicting births, wives plotting, men sleeping with maid servants and this chapter is no different. But rather than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah or Lot's mistakes, I wanted to briefly touch on nine words that hit close to home in this story.

After the angels at Lot's house had blinded all the sex hungry men beating down the door, they turn to Lot and say, "Get them (anyone in Lot's family) out of here, because we are going to destroy this place." You get the sense that something powerful is about to happen and there is a tension that settles over the scene as Lot goes to speak to his family.

When he finds his future son-in-laws, he tells them, "Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!" He yells at them. He pleads with them. Their response?

"But his sons-in-law thought he was joking."

They interpreted a warning as a joke. They laughed when they should have left. They dismissed when they should have disappeared. They died of disbelief that day.

I don't face situations that are so clearly dangerous. My potential downfall is not so neon. That I am aware of, sulfur curtains are not about to close on Atlanta where I live. But I need to treat more things as dangerous in my life. I need to see less jokes in my actions and the actions of those around me.

My favorite example is when someone will tell me, "I just have a flirty personality." I get that. Believe me I do. I tend to be gregarious and feel energized by crowds and love meeting new people. But as things kind of progress with the book and speaking engagements, how I interact with people not named "my wife" is an area I have to be hyper careful about. Because if I'm not, I'm Lot's son-in-law, standing on a stone-covered town square laughing at a warning while death and destruction quietly amass at my doorstep.