Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23

Through the Bible for Children

Download Lesson and Craft: CRAFT: Lesson #17, Fire from Heaven Genesis 19:12-17

The two men that were with Lot in his house struck the wicked men of Sodom with blindness. Then they said to Lot, “Do you have any others in the city besides your wife and two daughters that are here with you? Whatever you have in the city bring it out of this place. For we will destroy this place because the cry of its wickedness is great in the face of the Lord. The Lord has sent us to destroy the city.”

Lot went out and spoke to his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, “Up, get yourselves out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city.”

But to the sons in law it seemed like a joke, and they did not pay any attention to Lot’s warning.

When the morning sun came up, the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and two daughters which are here with you so that you are not destroyed in the iniquity of this city.”But Lot stayed on, not wanting to leave the city of Sodom which was to be destroyed. 

While he continued to linger, the angels grabbed his hand and the hand of his wife, and the hands of the two daughers, because the Lord was merciful to them. The angels brought them out of the city and set them in a safe place.

When they were outside of the city the angels said to Lot, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you! Do not stay in the plain! Escape to the mountain, or you will be consumed.”

Lot said to angel, “Oh, not so, my Lord: Listen now, if your servant has found grace in your sight. You have made your mercy great which you have showed to me by saving my life. I can not escape to the mountain, for let me escape to this little city and my soul shall live.” 

Then the angel replied, “I have granted your request and I will not overthrow this city for which you have asked. Hurry now, and escape to it. For I can not do anyting until you leave here.” The name of the city that was spared at Lot’s request was Zoar.

The sun had risen by the time Lot arrived in the city of Zoar. Then the Lord rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and he destroyed those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and all that which grew on the ground.

But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Then Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood with the Lord talking about the city of Sodom. He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward the land of the plain, he saw the smoke of the country going up as the smoke of a furnace.

When God detroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and spared Lot out of the destruction. Lot had made his home in the wicked city of Sodom. Lot did not stay in the city of Zoar for which he had pleaded, but he left it. He went to live in the mountains with his two daughters, for he was afriaid to stay in the city of Zoar. 

Lot had become so attached to the city life in Sodom that he did not want to leave it even when God promised certain destruction. Even though Lot was upset by the great wickedness of the city, he continued to stay in it. If it had not been for the angels forcing them leave, Lot’s whole family might have been killed in the destruction of the city.

It is do easy for world and all its pleasures to get ahold of our hearts. We can get to the place where we stay in wicked situations that are dangerous to us and our families because we just sort of get used to things. In order to avoid the trap that Lot fell into, we must always guard our heats against things that would draw us away from God. It is best to stay away from temeptation, or we could become caught in the trap just as Lot was. His testimony for God was ruined, and he lost most of his family because he loved the things of the world and let them draw away from God.

PRINCIPLE: Guard your heart so that things of this world will not lead you away from God.

LEARN: Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23