Never Look Back

Genesis 19:15-29   NASB

15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the [a]punishment of the city.” 16 But he hesitated. So the men grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the [b]hands of his two daughters, because the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. 17 When they had brought them outside, [c]one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay [d]anywhere in the surrounding area; escape to the [e]mountains, or you will be swept away.” 18 But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! 19 Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your compassion, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the [f]mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; 20 now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) [g]so that my life may be saved.” 21 And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this [h]request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the town was named [i]Zoar.

23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, 25 and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But [j]Lot’s wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the surrounding area; and [k]behold, he saw the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a [l]furnace.

29 So it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.