So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” Genesis 19:17

Escape to the mountains lest you be destroyed. 

This refers to God’s judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah. But while God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, the world is bent on destroying followers of Christ. Every day the sinful world seems to press further into our lives. This happens no matter how diligently we seek to live as those set apart. We know God will one day put an end to evil as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah. But until that day comes, we must find a way to keep standing firm. This verse speaks to us today with as much meaning for us as it had for Lot. 

Sometimes escaping looks like stepping away from the world and spending time in the supernatural wisdom and peace that passes understanding that only God can give.

Every summer I travel from my barely above sea level flatland home to the restorative majesty of the mountains. From the confines of the Sodom and Gomorrah world I am surrounded by, God draws me into a place where He meets with me, restores my heart, and refreshes my soul. He invites me to escape to the mountains lest I be destroyed.

Escape from Chaos

My destination is a small mountain ski town tucked into a quiet valley. With only one road in and one road out and no chain restaurants or businesses, I can flee from much of what is Sodom and Gomorrah. The other people we encounter here are likewise. They’r seeking time removed from the distracting and destructive chaos of the fallen world. 

While God has never wiped out the broken and wicked world of my everyday life while I’ve been in my mountain refuge, He does use this as a time to quiet my soul. In the mountains, my heart recognizes Him in the beauty around me. In the pine scented, earthy smell of the mountain forest, the soft, soothing babble of the flowing stream, the whisper of the breeze through the giant firs and aspens, the vibrant blue of a sky that seems so close I could touch it, the feel of the chilly rain that falls during the summer monsoon season. 

The distracting chatter of the world silences as I sit beside a mountain stream or gaze up into the endless blue of the sky above. And I am reminded of who I am and Whose I am. I return to the understanding of why I am.

The expectations of the broken world fall away, and I am restored to the truest version of myself. The woman God created in His image to bear His glory. The one bought by the blood of Christ, redeemed by the finished work of the cross, equipped for every good work, beloved of the Lord, and promised an inheritance in eternity.

Escape Destruction

I am hard pressed on every side, but I will not be crushed; I am perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed (see 2 Corinthians 4:8).

Perhaps for you, the call is to escape to the ocean or a botanical garden, the desert or wide-open prairie. Maybe it’s to the backyard or garden or a comfy chair in a quite nook in your house. Not matter where it is in this season, God knows our need to escape lest we be destroyed. 

He invites us to go there, to meet with Him, and to leave behind for a time the fallen world full of bad news, the encroaching forces of sinfulness, the intentional blurring of lines between right and wrong as well as hatred and compassion, the weariness consuming our souls in a world of evil that never rests. 

Find such a place and such a moment and let God remind you of all that is good and true and beautiful. Let Him restore your belief that you are an irreplaceable part of something glorious. And though we can choose to give that glory away, the world can never take it away from us without our consent.

Where is the mountain to which you may escape?