The Lot conundrum

and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, - 2 Peter 2.7-9

I have a few conundrum verses. Study as I might, I never seem to really get it. I have studied this verse several times and keep coming up with the same answer – though it doesn’t seem to fit into my way of thinking. 

The subject here is Lot, righteous Lot if you will. 

Now, when I think of Lot I can think of a lot of words to describe him. 

Remember Lot? 

He pitched his tent toward wicked Sodom

He moved his family there

He sat at the gates of the city with the leaders

He offered his daughters when the wicked men of the city demanded he send out his male visitors

And then, while drunk, he had sex with his daughters

Rightoeus doesn't seem like the right word to describe him. 

But here, in the context of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we read that God delivered righteous Lot. 

I have to admit that my human reasoning doesn’t get this. How could Lot be righteous with all that he did? Peter says here that Lot vexed and tormented himself by spending time with the wicked and watching their lifestyle. He was in a mess because of mingling with the world. 

Even in his case though God knew how to deliver Lot. Despite the fact that he was not living righteously he was righteous in God’s sight. 

I still don’t get it. All I can take from this is that we can’t always judge a man’s standing with God by the life he is living. Lot is a picture of what happens when God’s people get themselves in a mess by staying close to wickedness. It is going to torment us and cause us all kinds of trouble. But, at the end of the day, if we are truly Christ’s He can still deliver us. 

Instead of saying something like ‘if Lot is righteous then I can do whatever I want’ we ought to say ‘what a mess Lot made of his life because he would not separate from the world’ and avoid the trouble he got himself into.