Simply Follow The Directions - Genesis 19:15-16

As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. - Genesis 19:15-16

    For me, the first question that arose in my mind was why? Why, after knowing it was angels who spoke to him, why did Lot linger? Perhaps a clearer understanding of the word ‘linger’ is due. One of the most common synonyms for linger is the word ‘remain; as in “he remained (lingered) seated.” So again - why would Lot linger when he knew that Sodom was about to be destroyed?
    If we profess to be Christians; if we claim to have faith in our Triune God, why would we ever hesitate to do what He asks and commands of us? A quick and faulty excuse on our part would be that we want to know such requests and commands are indeed from God Himself and not simply some trick of the devil.  There is always a sure sign of God’s genuine authority in our lives. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” - 1 John 4:1. The way to test the spirits is to refer to our Bibles. The Word of God never lies. And while we may not always understand why we are instructed as to a particular course of action, we must never pose questions to things the Scripture doesn’t address. To do so indicates our unwillingness to abide in God. And opposition to God is a sure sign of faithlessness. Such faithlessness is evidence that we don’t even believe we are salvageable in eternity. We are not at liberty to choose whether or not we will listen to the Lord. Even Judas did what Jesus told him to do - “Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.’” “So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.” John 13: 27, 29.
    God takes a very dim view of people not listening to Him. “. . . do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.’ Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” - Psalm 95:8-11.
    Truly, ignoring God’s commands or even lingering before following them can cost us dearly. Lot’s wife is evidence of God’s response to taking His commands lightly. “And as they brought them out, one said, ‘Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.’” - Genesis 19:17. What did Lot’s wife do? “And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:25-26.    
    No one is suggesting that disobedience toward God will turn us into pillars of salt but when we deliberately fail to obey God’s commands there is a reckoning awaiting us. We may learn from it or we may wish we had simply followed the directions.