Episode 50: Demise by Compromise
Our demise typically isn’t the result of a huge one-time sin or explosive moment. The enemy is more strategic than that. He works little by little…one small compromise after another. . .until we find ourselves nowhere near where we used to be or who we want to be. Compromise always comes at a cost. And while you may have determined the compromise, you don’t get to determine the cost. It may be your purpose, your family, your purity, your joy, your peace, or your ability to understand God’s direction.
In the Old Testament, Lot was Abraham’s nephew, and apparently, he had a unique relationship with Abraham because when God instructed Abraham to leave his country and his relatives, (Genesis 12:1) he left but he brought Lot with him. Abraham obeyed God but only through partial obedience and as we’ll see later, this decision caused problems both in Abraham’s life, as well as in his nephew Lot’s life.
Over time, their herdsmen began to feel strife between the families, and Abraham wisely told Lot to pick where he wanted to settle because their families could no longer live in the same area. Genesis 13:10 says Lot looked around and saw the plains near the city Sodom - it was a space that looked good to the eye, so he settled near there.
COMPROMISE STARTS WHEN WE SETTLE NEAR SOMETHING DAMAGING OR POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS.
Throughout the next chapters in Genesis, we see Lot progress through the Pattern of Compromise:
Lot started by merely looking at Sodom from a distance. (Genesis 13:10)
Then he pitched his tent toward Sodom. (Genesis 13:12)
Next, he started living in Sodom. (Genesis 14: 12)
How do we go from looking at something to living within it? It starts with small decisions to skip things that matter. . .things like time with the Lord, prayer, reading the Word, gathering with friends, eating wisely, sleeping and resting, dating your spouse, and doing things that bring joy to your heart and spirit. Slowly, these things are replaced with choices that eventually tug at your life, pulling you away from God and the clarity of His purpose and His plan for your life.
Lot slipped slowly down the slippery slope of compromise, and in Genesis 19:1, we find him sitting at the gate in a leadership role in the depraved city of Sodom. When the angels came to provide him rescue (thanks again to the prayers of his Uncle Abraham) he hesitated when they told him the severity of what was about to happen. The whole city was about to be ruined, and he was upset that the place they were taking him for his rescue might be “hard’ to settle in. Lot was so used to the comfort and sin of Sodom that he struggled with the thought of living outside of it. What should have been an easy rescue from darkness, was an angelic shove towards safety.
One scholar said it perfectly, “Lot was in the worst of all possible places. He had too much of the world to be happy in the Lord, and too much of the Lord to be happy in the world.”
Gutsy Faith Challenge: Are you brave enough to ask God where you’ve compromised? Having the courage to ask now, saves you from heartache later.
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