Genesis 19 Lot recognized at once that the two men who came into Sodom were holy angels.  He bowed down to them and insisted that they come into his home.  He knew well enough the wickedness of the people around him. The fact that he stayed in such a town seems to show a lack of wisdom and  lack of a relationship with the Lord.  In fact, besides his willingness to protect the angels.. there is nothing in Lot's story that shows that he even had a relationship with God...

But,  Peter wrote this, " .. and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men ( for by what he saw and heard the righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement." ( II Peter 2:6-9)

Lot tried everything he could, it seems to me, to stay where he was..  he pleaded with the men that surrounded his home; he offered his virgin daughters in lieu of the angels; he tried to get his prospective sons-in-law to come on his side; and even after the angels warned him again he did not move until they had to physically grab his hand and the "hands of his wife and.. two daughters"  and put them outside of the city!

The angels tried to get Lot and his family to safety in the mountains.. but again, Lot hesitated and asked to go to the small town of Zoar.  Only after Lot saw the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley did he wake up.  Sadly, his wife did not. 

Verses 27-29 tell us that Abraham came out the next morning and walked to the place where he had stood with the Lord.  He saw the smoke rising and knew that God had not found even 10 people who were "righteous".  I wonder if he ever learned what had happened to Lot.  "Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived." (v29) Only the kindness of God towards Abraham kept Lot from destruction with the others in Sodom. 

Reading the next section of this chapter, I  wonder if God ever regretted saving Lot.  He and his two daughters ended up in a cave in the mountains, where the two girls schemed to get their father drunk, sleep with him, and have children by him.  Their sons were Moab and Ben-ammi.. the father of two nations, Moab and Ammon.. both who became enemies of Israel. 

Father in heaven,  Your ways are far above our ways... Your thoughts so much greater than ours.  All of this that we read about happened for Your purposes and You are working through them to accomplish Your perfect will.  Sometimes we can be like Lot.. hesitating, stalling, and reasoning with You.. instead of immediately obeying and trusting You. Forgive us Lord!  Grab us by the hand and take us where You want us to go, Lord.. We know that Your plan is greater and Your ways are better than our own.  Help us to lay it all down, take up our crosses and follow You, Jesus.  Let the Name of God be glorified in our lives we pray.  Amen.