Which way is your tent facing?...

In Genesis 13:13, we learn of a city called Sodom where men “were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” This city was wicked because of its immorality, idleness, pride, gluteny, refusal to help the needy, etc. The Lord was angry with Sodom because “their sin [was] very grievous.” (Gen. 19:20) These grievous sins ultimately ended up destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are many lessons that we can learned from the actions and fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Just like in the times of Sodom and Gomorrah, we also live in a wicked and evil time where many people have the mentality of “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.” (2 Nephi 28:7) At every turn we find ourselves in the face of immorality, corruption, dishonesty, and so much more. It is hard sometimes to find a safe haven where we can metaphorically “pitch our tent” towards something of safety and Godliness. It may not be easy, but we learn from the example of Abraham that it is possible.

Abraham was a man of God and after separating himself from Lot, he “removed his tent and came and dwelt in...Mamre...and built an altar unto the Lord.” (Gen. 13:18) When finding himself in a compromising situation, Abraham was the ultimate example of what we need to do in our lives when faced with evil and wickedness. We not only need to turn away, but remove our tent and pitch it in a holy place where we can feel of the Holy Spirit. This may be to the temple, the church, or most importantly our home. Which ever place we choose to pitch our tent, we need to make sure it is a safe haven that we can rest from the temptations of the world.

In 3 Nephi 13:24 we are told that “no man can serve two masters.” This is the same with the way we pitch our tent. We cannot pitch our tent two ways, so we must choose whether to pitch our tent towards the Lord or to pitch it towards Satan. Lot is a perfect example of what happens when we choose to pitch our tent towards Satan. We are told in Gen. 13:12 that Lot “pitched his tent toward Sodom.” We are not told how Lot progressed to live in Sodom, but we find out in Gen. 14:12, that Lot “dwelt in Sodom” along with “his good”. From these scriptures we see that by facing his tent towards Sodom, he was eventually enticed by the lifestyle and moved into the middle of all the wickedness.

Many of us “pitch our tents towards Sodom”by certain actions and decisions we make in our lives. Many times we give into the temptations of Satan because they present the idea of fun, easiness, ways to avoid trouble, etc. When giving into these temptations, we submit ourselves to Sodom just like Lot did. If we flirt with temptation for too long, we will no longer be able to resist it and we will move right into living and thinking the same way the world does. There may be times of pleasure, but in the end it will destroy us just like it did Sodom and Gomorrah.

I know that we live in a time of great wickedness, but there is much righteousness as well. We need to make sure that we find those places of righteousness and cling to them so that we do not give into the temptations that are around us. We are blessed with God's true church upon the earth and I know if we follow it's teachings that we will be protect from the storm. It is not going to be easy by any means, but I know it is possible!