Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

their life. The storm of divine judgment was only waiting so that
these poor fugitives could escape.
But Lot, confused and terrified, pleaded that he could not do
what the two visitors had told him to do. Living in that wicked city,
his faith had grown weak. The Prince of heaven was by his side, yet
he pleaded for his own life as though God, who had shown such
love for him, would not still take care of him. He should have
trusted himself entirely to the divine Messenger. "See now, this city
is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; Please let me escape
there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live." Zoar was only a
few miles from Sodom, and like it, was corrupt and doomed to
destruction. But Lot asked for it to be spared, urging that this was
just a small request. His desire was granted. The Lord assured him,
"I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not
overthrow this city for which you have spoken."
Again the command was given to hurry, for the fiery storm
would be delayed only a little longer. But one of the fugitives took a
look backward to the doomed city, and she became a monument of
God's judgment. If Lot himself had earnestly fled toward the
mountains without one word of objection, his wife would have made
her escape also. His example would have saved her from the sin that
sealed her doom, but his reluctance caused her to regard the divine
warning lightly. While her body was on the plain, her heart clung to
Sodom, and she perished with it. She rebelled against God because
His judgments involved her possessions and children in the ruin.
She felt that God had dealt severely with her in requiring that the
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