Treasuring the God who Treasures Us

Tapestry Discovery: Day 8

Genesis 19:15-16 ~ Matthew 6:19-21 ~ Psalm 8: 2 & 5 ~ Proverbs 2:11-14

The narrative makes me shudder every time. If it were a play script, the stage notes might read: Ominous music rumbles. Cue dark clouds from stage left.

Two angels arrive in Sodom and Lot welcomes them into his home. Late that night, a rowdy mob encircles the house, intent upon assaulting his guests. Lot displays immense courage: he walks out alone to meet the mob, hoping to dissuade them from this evil. No surprise: they rush him and his gate, intent upon their wickedness. No surprise: God’s angels overpower them, blinding the would-be attackers and snatching Lot right out of their angry hands.

Behind a bolted door, the two visitors inform Lot that their God-given instructions are to destroy the city. When Lot warns his sons-in-law to flee with him, they only laugh. As we read the account, we think, “Man, Lot’s the only one with an ounce of wisdom; he will gladly leave Sodom with those angels, and his family will wish they did.”

The next morning:

At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”  But he hesitated. Because of the Lord’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. Then they brought him out and left him outside the city.

What? But Lot was the only one who had believed the angels! And yet, he hesitated. Hellfire was ready to strike, but Lot was reluctant to leave his home. And ultimately, the only reason he did was because of God’s compassion, in the form of the angels literally dragging him (and his family) from Sodom’s borders.

Jesus’ familiar words in Matthew read like a commentary on Lot’s conflicted heart:

“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

Lot may have been the only righteous man in that wicked city (see Gen. 18:22-32). Yet his heart treasured his family and home to the extent that, apart from God’s mercy, he would have perished along with his earthly treasures.

When the deepest desires of our hearts are earthly things (even good things like home and family), we will neglect wisdom, lose perspective, even turn from God’s sure word -- to our great detriment. When we set our eyes upon Jesus and His kingdom, the things that matter to Him (love, peace, justice, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy), we stockpile heavenly treasure.

In the midst of the struggle to release passing pleasures for eternal treasures, God will pull back our grasping fingers from any earthly gift that keeps us from desiring Him as we ought. Because of His compassion, He will grab our hands and rescue us.

And, as these passages (from Psalm 8 and Proverbs 2) illustrate, He will draw our eyes to Himself: the God who guides, guards and honors us as His treasured possession:

…you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

You have made mankind a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

Wisdom saves you from perverse men who delight in evil.
Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,
To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things,
From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness.