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!
