The Lot Mentality | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: The Lot Mentality | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ramona Cook
01/04/13
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“Who would want to do that?” That was the question of those looking at many pictures on the computer of mountain climbers scaling nearly perpendicular ice mountains.

It confirms to us what we all know; each of us knows pursuits which we either embrace or cannot see ourselves ever attempting.

This was true of Lot as recorded in Genesis. Lot was not a mountain climber.

Uncle Abraham and nephew Lot had become so wealthy that the land upon which they were living could no longer contain the both of them because their flocks needed more grazing land.

Abraham offered the young Lot to take his choice of where he wanted to live; the young man chose the flat land, while he was apparently alright with the elder man climbing into the hill country.

So Lot settled in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah where there was flat land. Flat land was obviously important to Lot, and unbelievably even when the Angels of God were rescuing Lot and his family from that region, just before its complete destruction, the Angels advised Lot to run for the mountains to save his life and Lot complained that he could not do that because some evil might overtake him and he would die. (Genesis 19: 17, 18, & 19)

It is easy to see the ridiculousness of Lot’s reasoning. God had sent Angels to rescue him and his family from certain death, and yet, Lot refused to go into the mountains for fear of harm, even when it was the Angels who gave the instruction. The thought does not seem to enter his mind that if God had gone to so much active involvement to save him, that most likely God was going to see to his continued safety. I think Lot just preferred the level and even paths; smooth and effortless walking.

Is there is a little of the “Lot Mentality” in all of us? God has shown that He is faithful to us many times, and still we don’t have the confidence that He will continue to do so. What is the concept of thought behind this process? Is it that we think God has only a few miracles and then we are on our own recognizance? Or is it rather that we take God and the events of our life so for granted that we really don’t notice that God was intervening in our behalf?

One could evaluate Lot and perhaps call him lazy or not appropriately aggressive at the least. Then too, maybe Lot had some physical problems of which we are not aware. Whatever the combination of personality ingredients that made Lot the person Lot was, God loved him and took care of him.

It is wonderful that a person does not have to be a perfect person for God to provide His loving kindness and His merciful protection.

However, we should not desire to avoid the challenges of life, which often appear as mountains. The “Lot Mentality” no doubt lurks in each of us, and that in itself is a challenge to manage.

Vision is best experienced from the mountain tops; the valley of flat lands provides us limited view and less challenge for producitve growth.

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