Mercy for the Hesitant

‘When Lot hesitated, the angelic men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them’ (Gen. 19:16).

‘Mercy’ appears in the Bible for the first time in Genesis 19. We don’t usually associate the destruction of Sodom with mercy. But God does. He demonstrates His mercy by helping people repent from sin and so escape death.  

I believe He is highlighting this merciful help today. Faithful ones are speaking up about the joy of breaking free from sexual sin and shame. Common sense morality has emboldened many to declare His merciful love as key to living in reality: the truth of God’s design and destiny for our sexuality. We are challenging the benefits of sexual fluidity and calling it brokenness.

Is this a cultural shift? Perhaps God is granting us a pregnant pause, a window of opportunity for His children who have hesitated to repent. He is seeking out those clouded by moral confusion in the world and worldly church.

Take Chip and Joanna Gaines—righteous people (I know their pastor, a man of integrity) who have devolved from championing real marriage to featuring a same-sex male couple raising surrogate-born twin boys on their upcoming HBO series. Like Icarus ascending to the heights of an unchaste industry, the Magnolians now hurtle downward. And Christians are responding with a dexterity and clarity that I haven’t seen before, as in this astute article. ‘Jesus, wake up the woozy Waco-nians!’   

Let’s take our moment. Jesus moves with mercy through His fallen angels—you and me—to help the misdirected find their footing and walk with them to safety.

A friend of mine is helping a guy in one of our groups leave a ‘gay’ marriage and return to Jesus and the Christian community he left 17 years ago.

I had the privilege of serving John, a Catholic-deacon-to-be, in a Living Waters Training who was about to halt his 10-year process toward the priesthood. He was told by some Christians in authority ‘that was just who he was’; John proceeded to explore his ‘gay’ self, and confusion swirled about him. Over the five days we spent together, surrounded by saints who understood and embraced him, he repented and became clear and composed. John integrated his chastity over a much longer LW commitment back home. Photos revealed a radiant John at his ordination last Easter.     

I stand on God’s Word for our hesitant loved ones: ‘In the time of my favor I heard you; in the day of salvation I helped you’ (Is. 49:8). ‘I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation’ (2 Cor. 6:2).

Life and death hinge upon our actions. For this reason, Satan wages war against the clarity of our minds and the surety of our wills. Merciful Jesus helps us, as He did the righteous man Lot and his family. God promised to spare Lot from the fiery end of Sodom; even still, the good man hesitated. Immorality had not divided Lot but had dulled him.

Consider: seductive forces in the city drove citizens to try to rape the angels (vs. 4,5). Invasive lust is a dark cloud that surrounds Lot and his family like secondary smoke. They couldn’t see or feel or choose as decisively as escape demanded. So the angels goaded and took them by the hands. Follow me out, before it’s too late! It was too late for Lot’s wife, who turned to look back and died instantly (v. 26).

Jesus Himself employs Lot’s wife to warn hesitant and confused disciples, those who falter in forsaking sin: ‘Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will save it’ (Lk 17:32, 33).   

God defines His mercy as practical help for our moral fragility. He shows mercy through angels assigned to take our hands and lead us out of danger. I remember my friend Ted, who showed up unexpectedly at my ratty little beach apartment in Long Beach, CA, and invited me to church. I loved Jesus, but I hesitated to fully close the door on the pleasures of sin. Ted persisted and became my bridge to worshipping Jesus.

Without him, I might be dead today. Ted was Jesus’ mercy for me, leading me from worshipping the creature to the Creator. My true self, heading for heaven, hinged on merciful angels who were faithful to help hesitant ones like me to repent.

Would you call, text, or email your hesitant friend? Just ask: ‘How are you? Merciful Jesus and this friend of His haven’t forgotten you! How can I care for you today?’

‘Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others, show mercy mixed with holy fear over the corrupting power of sin’ (Jude 1:22, 23).