This lesson is compatible with the "Abraham & Isaac" Flash-A-Cards from Abeka Books.  

Scripture References: Genesis 14: 1-24; 2 Peter 2: 4-9

“Lot, this city is great!  We can go to the market every day to look for new dresses and shoes!” said Lot’s wife.

“I agree, wife!  It is just like Egypt and Ur in its riches!  I love being able to go to the theatre, also.” Lot replied.

“Me too, Dad!  I was just telling my sister how much I missed seeing the theatre plays while we were traveling with the herds of animals” said one of Lot’s daughters.

“Oh, but I prefer the sports games, Dad!” said his other daughter.

Lot and his family were really enjoying all of the things they could do in the city.  They spent less and less time at the tent just out of town, where all of the herds were kept, and the chores were done.  The girls especially enjoyed not having to smell the camels outside of their tent at night!  Lot decided the time had come.  It was time to buy a house in the city.  He looked at all of the cities and visited many houses for sale with his wife and daughters.  Lot especially liked one city.  Sodom.  Sodom was a big city with many opportunities to make money!  He could sell his milks and cheeses, and the blankets his servants made from the sheep’s wool.  He could make even more money than he already had!  Traveling around with his uncle Abram had made Lot a rich man!  Everywhere Abram went, Lot went.  And Abram was not poor when they left Ur several years before.  Then the pharaoh of Egypt had given Abram so many animals for Sarai!  And he shared some of them with Lot!  So, Lot’s herds of animals had grown in number, and he was not poor by any means!  Looking around at Sodom, Lot saw even more opportunity to make money, and become a very rich man, indeed!  And many important people lived in that city.  Maybe Lot would be an important man in the city someday!

So, Lot bought the best house he could afford.  Every night he lay in bed imagining all the things he would buy.  He imagined what it would be like to be a politician in the city, and to be able to make important decisions about the city.  “Thank you all for coming to the city meeting tonight!  You will all hear my plan to improve the city, as the new mayor!  I will build new, better streets, with less bumps.  I will plant trees beside the shops, so our city will be beautiful!  Crime will go down, now that I’m in charge!”  I like to think he imagined being the mayor and being the most important man in the city of Sodom.

Lot was so busy thinking about the money he would make, and the important man he would become, that he didn’t notice some very important things.

He didn’t notice that the people of Sodom were not good people.  He didn’t notice that there was no altar for the One, True God.  He didn’t notice that he never heard anyone even say God’s name!  All he noticed was when people talked about the new things they had bought, or the money they made each day in the market.

Lot believed in God, and had put his faith in God, just like Abram his uncle.  But he sure wasn’t living like he believed in God anymore.  Did you know that someone can be a Christian, but not live like they are a Christian?  This is what was happening to Lot.  Lot had stopped praying.  He stopped going to see Abram and talking about how good God had been to them.  He wasn’t thinking about God anymore, because he was just thinking about himself!  He wasn’t even really thinking about his wife and daughters anymore.  If he was thinking of them, he would never have taken them to live in such a city.  The Bible tells us that the people of Sodom were very, very wicked.  They did things that we can’t even talk about in this class, they were so bad!  Crime was terrible there, too.  People there didn’t care about anyone but themselves, and what they could get out of life.  If that meant ruining their neighbor’s lives, that was okay.  They didn’t care what happened to anyone but themselves, and how they could have pleasure.

But at first, Lot only saw the money he could make, and how happy he would be.  He hadn’t noticed how bad the people really were.  At first.  Little by little, he started noticing things, though.  He noticed how selfish his neighbor was.  It annoyed him, that his neighbor had loud parties late at night, and had loud music when Lot was trying to sleep.  His neighbor left his trash all over Lot’s yard, too! 

Lot began to notice the friends his daughters were bringing home.  They weren’t very nice friends.  They were bullies!  That bothered Lot, too. 

Lot noticed that his wife was always with a group of women.  All they did all day was talk bad and gossip about other people.  “Did you see what she was wearing?!  That dress is SO last season!” said one woman.  “Ugh!  Yes!  And she is way too short for that style.”  Said another.  “She can’t fool us!  I know for a fact that her family is poor!  But she wants to hang out with us!  NOT going to happen!!!” said another woman.

This kind of talk was also beginning to bother Lot.

The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 2 that Lot was a “just man”, or a man who had put his faith in God.  Lot was a Christian.  But it also says that Lot afflicted his own soul every day, by seeing the sins of the people of Sodom.  He saw the very wicked things they did, but he still kept living there.  He wanted so much to be happy, and rich, and important.  But was Lot really happy?  No!  Deep down in his heart, he was very unhappy.  He knew it wasn’t right to live in Sodom, but he stayed anyway.  When Christians live like they are not Christians, it is impossible to be happy.  Really happy deep in your heart. It might be fun and bring you pleasure for a short time, but it never lasts.  That is because we know that sin makes God sad.  Sin is the reason Jesus, who is God the Son, had to die on the cross.  Sin separates man from God.  But Jesus paid the price so that we don’t have to be separated from God anymore!  When we put our faith in Jesus, we have the help of the Holy Spirit to resist the temptations to sin.  But we can choose to ignore the Holy Spirit.  We can choose to sin instead.  But this never, ever brings real, lasting happiness.  Even if we have a million dollars, we can’t be really happy in sin.  The Bible says in Psalm 146:5 “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”  And in Psalm 144:15 “… happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.”  Happiness comes from our Creator, and a relationship with Him.

Lot began to be very unhappy in Sodom.  But he stayed there. 

Could Lot have prayed and asked God to help him leave?  Yes!  Even though Lot put his faith in God before, and his sins had been forgiven, Lot didn’t have a good relationship with God anymore.  Do you think God wanted a good relationship with Lot?  Even though Lot was living in sin? 

Most definitely!  God loves us very much!  The Bible tells us that God makes us a part of his family when we put our faith in Jesus.  Do your parents love you, even when you do bad things at home?  Yes!  You don’t stop being a part of their family when you do wrong things. They might discipline you, but that never stops their love for you. 

Our parents discipline us to protect us, guide us, and teach us.  Is it fun to be disciplined?  Of course not!  But the Bible says those that love us discipline us. 

God loved Lot, and he was about to discipline him in a big way.  You have to come back next week to see what happens next!

Let’s pray and ask God to help us obey Him and listen to the Holy Spirit when He is helping us say “No!” to sin.