“…(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— …”
tormented his righteous soul
Lot looked at Sodom’s sin, and he was tormented by what he saw. “Tormented” carries the idea of mental torture or torment. He was tormented by the lawless deeds of homosexuality he observed. A ” tormented ” person experiences mental anxiety and sorrow about what he sees. The sins of Sodom tormented his righteous (born again) soul. He knew enough truth for this situation to torture his “righteous soul.”
from day to day
Lot’s soul was tortured on a prolonged basis. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah continually grieved and vexed Lot’s soul. His soul was vexed day in and day out with their sin. Guilt was a persistent feeling in Lot’s soul. Evidently, he constructed a guilt complex in his soul.
by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
Lot saw and heard too much. The sin of Sodom was blatant. It was out in the open, much like in the twenty-first century. When a civilization does not care about egregious sin in its society, that culture begins to go down. This was the testimony of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Those civilizations decayed from within and disappeared as world powers. Will historians in years to come write about our society’s erosion during our watch?
“Lawless” indicates no regard for the law or open defiance toward the law. Their deeds carried no standards. Lawlessness pertains to what is not consecrated or devoted to God – unholy, impious, and godless. Here it refers to people who do not regard God’s law. The idea is not simply doing what is unlawful but flagrant defiance of God’s known will about homosexuality.
PRINCIPLE:
A principle of victory over sin is not to build a platform for sin so that sin can gain a foothold in our lives personally or in society.
APPLICATION:
Lot was vexed but not vexed enough to pick up his belongings and leave Sodom. He evidently didn’t care enough for his girls and wife to go when he should have. Are you in a situation where you are dwelling too long in compromise with biblical convictions? Get out of the problem, and do not allow a platform of sin to develop in your soul.
There is a valid separation from sin and even sinners (2 Co 6:14). Many young women go into situations thinking that this is an opportunity for some fun, but it ends in great pain for them. It would have been better for them to separate from that crowd initially.
