"Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth. Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father." That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I lay with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father." So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father." Genesis 19:30-36
Up to now, we have seen Abraham’s nephew, Lot, in a good light. He was the negotiating Lot who was willing to work out an agreement with Abraham on where they would settle with their respective peoples after quarreling arose between their respective herdsmen. He was the hospitable Lot who met the angels of the Lord, took them to his home in Sodom and shared fellowship with them. He was the protective Lot who faced the wicked mob outside of his home as they demanded to have the two men inside. And he was the saved Lot who was rescued from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, settling near the town of Zoar (you’ll remember that Lot’s wife never made it to Zoar…she disobeyed the command to not look back toward Sodom and Gomorrah and was turned into a pillar of salt). In today’s scripture, we see the last of Lot and his story doesn’t have a happy ending.
Scripture tells us that "Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave." It was there that his daughters schemed to exploit Lot by getting him to have sex with them so they could become pregnant. Knowing that their father would never sin by consenting to have sex with them sober, the girls used alcohol to get Lot drunk and then did their evil. Their plan went just as planned. Lot drank the offered alcohol and never knew he had entered into sexual relations with his daughter (scripture states Lot "was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up"…both times the same thing happened). So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by him and gave birth to boys. We never know what happens to Lot after this. Everything good he had done was now overshadowed by his being overcome by temptation, alcohol, and sinful sexual behavior.
The closing chapter in Lot’s story in Genesis brings with it a stern warning that we all need to heed: Use alcohol responsibly or else you can place yourself in a position of potential compromise.
Personally, I don’t drink nor have I ever but that is my personal choice and preference. Drinking alcohol in itself is not illegal but one needs to understand and always remember some key things about what alcohol does to someone. For alcohol has two immediate effects on a person that automatically begin to place them in a dangerous place where they could fall.
First, alcohol reduces a person’s ability to make right decisions and choices. For example, a man may never choose to pick a fight with someone bigger than them. That would lead to them getting hurt. But give the same man some alcohol and all of a sudden, the big man doesn’t seem as big or tough…and the man who had been drinking all of a sudden feels tougher and stronger and feels he can win a fight against the bigger man. So he chooses to go that route and ends up getting beat up. The alcohol led the man to make a choice he wouldn’t have otherwise and subsequently, he gets hurt.
In our scripture, Lot wouldn’t have ever had sex with either of his daughters while sober but he got so drunk that he never even remembered them laying with him or getting up. While drunk, he had no defense against the advances of his daughters. He was just having sex without knowing who he was having sex with. The alcohol had erased his memory.
Don’t think that the same thing doesn’t happen to people today. Just look into all the statistics on drunken driving tragedies where innocent people are killed on the highways. In many of those tragic stories, the drunk driver doesn’t remember anything about the accident or events leading up to it once they sober up. And how many times do people wake up in a strange bed next to someone they met at the bar and ended up going home with, even though they never remember going to that strange bed or what they did once they got there. It happens.
The other thing dangerous about the effect of alcohol is that it lowers or removes a person’s inhibition. There are people who would never go out and have an affair on their spouse while sober but after a few drinks they give into the temptation and commit an act of adultery that is as destructive as it is sinful. I have always felt that a person who commits adultery had always harbored lust for others in their heart but were able to withstand the temptation and so they never acted on it...until they had some alcohol. The inhibition drops and they carry out that lusting that had burned within.
I stated before that I had never drunk alcohol. You’re probably wondering how I can speak with authority about it. I served as a Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor for the Navy and watched as good Sailors ended up doing a lot of terrible things while under the influence of alcohol. Many of these Sailors ruined their careers through their actions while drunk. Some ruined the lives of others. The common denominator was that every incident could have been prevented if alcohol had been removed from the equation. In the end, I have never seen alcohol do anything good for anyone. I have only seen it make good people do horrible things. It’s why I have labeled it "the devil’s drink." It certainly ended up that way for Lot. I pray it will never end up that way for you.
In Christ,
Mark
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