in search of persimmon pulp

I was thinking the other day about how we as followers of Christ are called. We are called to live “in the world, not of it.” As I was thinking about this idea, the story of Lot and his wife came to mind.

Lot’s wife… not too much is known about this woman, other than the fact that she had 2 daughters and lived with her husband in the city of Sodom. After reading through Genesis 11 - 19 I feel it could be assumed that she came from the area.

If you have ever heard a commentary on this, you have most likely heard the idea that Sodom is a picture of the world… and that Lot was the righteous man living there. Unfortunately, he was the only righteous man living there.

The basic story:

We have two angels heading through the city gates - a place where men of power and prestige sat during the day. Lot was among these men as evening was drawing near. Yes, Lot was a very wealthy man when he entered the Jordan Valley, and he would have easily been able to be among the men of power.

With the verses that follow, one has to wonder what Lot’s introduction to the city was like… he seemed to know what would be happening if the visitors were out of doors overnight. Josephus says in his commentary Jewish Antiquities that the angels were “young men, who were outstanding in beauty of appearance” as the reason behind the men’s desire for them. They were angels, after all - shouldn’t they be pleasing to the eye?

Lot is sitting at the city gate with the other med of power and leisure, and saw the two men entering the city. Genesis says that “seeing them, Lot rose up to meet them and bowed to the ground. And he said, ‘My lords, turn aside, I beg of you, into your servant’s house and spend the night and bathe your feet. Then you can arise early and go on your way.’” Hmmm, it sure sounds like he knows what will be happening soon. It took a few tries to convince them, but he eventually won them over.

He gets them home and fixes a meal himself for them, complete with fresh baked bread (I’m wondering where his wife was all of this time). Before they can take their rest, however, the men of the city came a-knocking. Every man in the city. Even Lot’s soon-to-be sons-in-law. Seems like he should have had a problem with this idea… seems like his daughters should have had a problem here too! Lot even went out and offered his two virgin daughters (their fiance’s are out there… remember?) in exchange for saving the men, but to no avail. This was a place that had some very strange ideas indeed.

God struck the men of Sodom blind in order to save Lot and his family. Praise God! He kept His promise to Abraham in this. Early in the morning - long before the sun came up - the angels awaken Lot and his family and tell them to flee. They began to take time to pack up some things, to dilly-dally around and the angels took them by the hands and pulled them out of the city and told them to run for the hills. They knew what was coming. Lot, ever the mediator and smooth-talker, pleads with them to let him merely hide in the next little town over - the little town that he later runs from in fear - and they amazingly agree, on one condition - they must run and not look back or falter.

Well, apparently this was just too tall of an order for Mrs. Lot. After all, her world was back there. Her home was back there, perhaps she even had other children or grandchildren back there. Genesis 19:15 states that Lot was to take his wife and the two daughters, the family that was there with him. We don’t know everything that she may have been leaving behind, but we do know that it was apparently too much to drop everything and simply walk away from.

She turned.

Chances are good that she had already slowed her pace and was falling behind her family. Chances are good that she didn’t truly believe that the visiting men were being honest - after all she doesn’t show up in the story until it is time to head for the hills. Perhaps she heard the sounds of destruction behind her and thought of her friends. Perhaps she wanted one last look at the life she was being told to leave behind. We don’t know what she was thinking. All we do know is that she turned to look back, and her life ended.

Some scholars believe that she may have been caught up in the swirling fire and brimstone that was laying waste to the Valley of Siddim, and her body was encrusted with salt. That layer upon layer of salt was added to her body, growing larger and larger until she was a pillar - possibly even the beginnings of a mountain - of salt.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the location of Sodom and Gomorrah. Those two great cities and three surrounding towns are located near the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is surrounded by mountains of salt and the ruins of 5 cities that have been discovered that have been turned to ash. Not only are these ruins ash, but they are filled with sulfur balls. Millions of little balls of pure powder sulfur surrounded with glass.

Near these cities is Mount Sodom - a large mountain of pure salt.

The evidence that God poured destruction upon this area is there. What was once a most beautiful and fertile valley has become a barren, lifeless wasteland. A place where life flows in, but there isn’t any place for it to flow on to. It is an ending.

Back to our story… the family was fleeing for their very lives, one turns back and the others continue on to later find that she is missing. They stayed in Zoar for a short time, and then ran away to the mountains out of fear. But that is another chapter in their tale. We are focusing on Mrs. Salt.

So, what can we learn from this mystery woman?

Well, a few things!

1 - When God says go, it’s best to listen! Don’t hem and haw, lolli-gag around or try to reason with God. Just go. Oh, and make sure you go where He tells you to - chances are good that is where you will end up anyway.

2 - When God calls you to leave something behind, it is for a good reason. He has something better out there for you, if only you will listen and follow His commands. Often He is calling us away from something that will hinder our walk with Him, or be a stumbling block to our faith. Other times, He is simply calling us to something that is better, or that we have grown enough to now be able to handle.

3 - There is nothing of this world that is worth defying God over. Nothing.

4 - God is reaching out to you to save you from the evil around you, but you have to choose to follow Him.

The personal side of this… I have tried to ignore God in the past when He was leading my family away from where we were. I spent 5 months being where I was, rather than where I was being called to be. They were 5 very long months! They were months of being somewhere out of a longing to cling to the comfortable, the familiar, to stay with the family that God had surrounded us with. They were months of staying at times out of a feeling of guilt and obligation. They were months of struggling with submitting - not only to the wishes of my husband, but to the leading of God. Dissatisfaction, discord and pain were the results, forcing my family to live in limbo, not sure where we would be going or what we would be doing.

Once I stopped fighting and trying to cling to what had already become the past and started to listen to the leading of God in our lives, the choice was an obvious one. We were being called to something new. Is it something better? That is yet to be seen. God used us and ministered to us in so many ways where we were, and the people were such a huge blessing to us - and still are - but he has also began to use us and minister to and through us in ways that we had never imagined we could be used. He has blessed us with a new church family that is already in many ways closer than much of what we left behind. Yes, we still spend time with those that we had built relationships with, and we intend to continue to do so! But He has also brought us to so much more.

When you refuse to walk away from the world that you have surrounded yourself with, it can be a very painful place. When you cling to that which God has called you away from, you may find yourself in the midst of swirling fire and brimstone - and starting to get a little bit crusty.

God has promised us that we will have an abundant life… not that it will be an easy life. When we walk in His Spirit, we have the abundance of Him in our lives - Him leading us, walking with us, carrying us from time to time. We have the abundance of His Church around us, sharing in our burdens and our triumphs, our joys and our sufferings, the awesome privilege of lifting one another up before Him. He has promised that He will not leave us or forsake us, that He will send a Helper, that He will guide us in all things, and that everything that happens is for the good of His kingdom.

He also promised us that it would not be an easy road… Christ was persecuted, who are we to think that we should live a life free from persecution? He was hated, who are we to expect that the world will love us? Many modern Christians are living in the midst of Sodom, and don’t even realize it. We see that there is evil in the world, and we strive to protect the innocents from it, but we are not willing to leave behind the comforts of our worldly lives. Often we are even willing to sacrifice things that are all too precious in attempt to appease the world.

Look around you… we are living in a time that is filled with evil. Thank God that there are more than 10 righteous men living in our cities! Praise Him for that! Let’s go out there and live our lives in a way that shines forth His righteousness into the darkness that surrounds us… but don’t get so attached to the place in which you live that you are unable or unwilling to walk away from it at a moment’s notice. Yes, live among the sinners! Yes, share Christ with them! Yes, shine God’s light out among them! Just remember that we are aliens in this world… this world is not our home. We are called to leave our earthly dwellings in the twinkling of an eye and to flee to our true home in heaven. We do not know the hour that He will call, we are simply called to be ready.

While we are still here though, we must live out our faith. We must live in God’s kingdom while we are here on this earth so that those who are lost in the darkness will be drawn to His light shining forth from us. We must follow the leadings of His Spirit in our lives, and be willing to go where He is calling us to go… sometimes at a moment’s notice.

If God has called you away from something, walk forward in faith and trust and in the knowledge that He will provide what you need every step of the way. We serve a God that is holy and righteous and just. He is love! You and I have been created for Him, and we are called to worship Him in all that we do. He loves you so much that He was willing - nay, eager - to sacrifice His only Son so that you could enter into His presence and call Him Abba Father… but that is for another day.

Don’t cling so tightly to the world around you that you lose sight of what God may be calling you to. Don’t think of the past so longingly that you cease to walk forward into the future that God is calling you to. Follow His leading, go where He is sending you, and keep you eyes pointed towards the future!