Sunday Scripture

"You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would soon catch up to me there, and I would soon die. 

See, there is a small village nearby. 

Please, let me go there instead" 

~ Genesis 19:19 (NLT)

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In reading this chapter, I noticed that while Lot was directly told by God to flee to the mountains for safety and protection from the destruction He was about to rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot gave God an excuse as to why he could not follow what God intended for him to do. Lot thought he would be better off under his own discretion going to Zoar (the "small village nearby").  Surprisingly enough to me, God doesn't get mad with Lot, but instead grants him his request. However, we read just a little while later in verse 30 that "Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains..." 

Made me realize that while God cares for us deeply, He will not force His ways upon us. God will let us do things our own way if we so choose. Sad to say, we often tend to choose the harder way, rationalizing it to ourselves as the better option when we would be better off to do it God's way to begin with. Lot knew fear he would not have had to know if he had just listened to God's leading the first time. I wonder how many times I have done the same thing to myself? Quite a thought to ponder, huh?

My prayer for this week is that may God grant me the ears 

to hear His voice the first time and may I have an obedient heart

to initially choose His way over my own.