January 29, 2013
TRUSTING GOD
Genesis 19:27-38
Shannon Haggard
Central Truth
When chaos, pain, mourning, and utter turmoil surround the daughters of Lot, they seek to control their circumstances by trusting in themselves, not in God. They did not remember God, even though He never forgot them.
Key Verse | Genesis 19:29
Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. (Genesis 19:29)
Genesis 19:27-38
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 35 So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. 1 19:37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. 2 19:38 Ben-ammi means son of my people He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
Dive Deeper | Genesis 19:27-38
When I first read this passage, I thought to myself, "I can't relate. I'm nothing like Lot's daughters." My guess is that your initial reaction was similar. As I reread the passage, however, I was able to see that I do have something in common with them.
Just before the events in this passage, Lot's daughters had suffered great loss. Each had lost her fiancé, mother, and home. Their whole world was turned upside down. But their focus wasn't on God, who had delivered them through the storm. They were in such a state of grief that their view was clouded.
I have been there. I have suffered a loss. My own view of God was clouded by grief, and my desire to control was huge. I lost my dad in 2009 to cancer. I held his hand as he took his last breath and held on to my need to control long after that. My world was turned upside down. It was like I was on a merry-go-round that wouldn't stop. Everything was spinning around me, and I couldn't grab on to anything to reorient myself, even though I desperately tried.
Like Lot's daughters, when my life was chaotic and nothing seemed safe and secure, I searched for control. They controlled their family, while I controlled emotions and finances. They didn't see what God had for them; they took matters into their own hands to ease the pain. After my dad died, I had a hard time seeing the good God had for me. I was angry and had no desire to seek Him. I went my own way, not completely falling away from the faith, but not leaning into it, and I was not trusting God.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, "'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'" I made a plan for my own hope and my own future, just like Lot's daughters did. I'm not so different after all. I love control just like they did. The truth is that I need faith, and I need Jesus. He heals all wounds.
Discussion Questions
1. Take a close look at your life. How are you like Lot's daughters?
2. What areas of your life are you trying to control? What would it look like for you to give full control to God, trusting He has a plan for you for a hope and a future?
3. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Do you believe He causes all things to work together for your good?
4. Are there any areas of your life in which you do not see God's good? Are you willing to pray over these areas and give them to God, trusting that it is good even if you cannot see it? It took me awhile to see the good in my dad's death, but it is there. I see it now. God is faithful!