Lot protests: No, my lords, please! He is not refusing to leave but negotiating the destination. He cannot make it to the mountains; he will die before he gets there. The protestation reveals the persistence of self-focused calculation even in the moment of rescue. Lot is being saved from destruction and is negotiating the terms of his escape. The application is uncomfortable: how much of your response to grace is negotiation about the terms of the rescue — insisting on the shape of the salvation, the destination of the deliverance — rather than simple, grateful compliance? The angels are holding his hand; he is asking for a different mountain.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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