While cleaning out a desk I came across an old Sudoku book. Years ago, I had become a little obsessed with the puzzles so I threw it into the outside trash bin only to go back later and retrieve it and tuck it into the desk where it sat undisturbed.
I wondered if could remember how to solve the puzzles. Before I knew it, I had completed several. I heard my husband arrive home and quickly put it aside only to think about when I would pick it back up. When he commented on the book I tossed it across the room as if it was not important to me but inside I wanted to grab it and master the next puzzle. I was quickly reminded of why I had attempted to remove this object from my life years ago.
In my morning quiet time, when I read Lot’s response to God’s warning I was a bit shocked. God sent angels to urge Lot to flee from Sodom:
“Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” Genesis 19:15b
God was about to destroy the entire wicked city and everything in it and Lot’s response in verse 16 fully grabbed my attention. “But he lingered.”
Instead of quickly fleeing from utter destruction “he lingered.” Thanks to God’s mercy, the angels “seized him…by the hand and brought him out…” vs. 16b
The passage caused me to ask God, “Is there any area in my own life where you have called me to flee yet I linger?” I sensed God’s response in calling me to flee from a very specific behavior. Since this was not the first time He had challenged me to give up this specific behavior I realized I too had LINGERED! I had chosen gratification of the flesh over immediate obedience.
Has God ever asked you to flee from anything and instead of instant obedience you linger? Perhaps, a bad attitude, foul language, bitterness, anger, worry, lack of forgiveness, an obsessive behavior like Sudoku (or other)…
Let’s grab the hand of God and flee!
Copyright©2017, Gloria Stucky