When we read Scripture, it’s easy to identify with the hero, the main character. All of the characters in the Bible are important and sometimes we miss some of the things that God is doing in the edges of stories.

Lot is an example of one of those side characters. He is Abraham’s nephew, the only living relative of a cherished brother who died. Lot is a little bit selfish. He chooses the best land for himself and makes poor decisions. 

We see Abraham saving Lot not once but twice. The first time Lot is kidnapped and rescued in a daring night raid. The second time is an intervention from when Lot is living in Sodom and Gomorra before God destroys the cities. 

Abraham is warned about the coming destruction and begs God to save the cities, basically bargaining for their lives. God does not save the cities, but he sends two angels to drag a Lot and his family out before the end. Lot’s wife turns back and becomes a pillar of salt and Lot is left alone with his two daughters. Lot is too fearful to return to society, and ends up holed up in a cave where he impregnates both daughters. Sin is not in a city, but in hearts and minds. Their two sons, Moab and Ammon become the Moabites and Ammonites, who often agitated against the Israelites. 

Later a Moabite descendent, Ruth, becomes folded back into the Israelite clan, becoming the great-grandmother of King David. The thread from the legacy of Lot gets woven all the way back into the linage of Jesus Christ.

My point is that sometimes we are like Abraham, the faithful, heroic patriarch, and sometimes we’re like Lot the lazy, hardheaded nephew whom God has to drag kicking and screaming away from the consequences of our own actions.

The point of the Bible is not just about the heroes, but the redemption from a God who keeps coming back for us despite ourselves.