Rock Salt

Genesis 19:17 and 24-26

When they had brought them outside, the angels said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.”

Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, 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.

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The city streets are empty now
(The lights don't shine no more)
And so the songs are way down low

A sound that flows into my mind
(The echoes of the daylight)
Of everything that is alive
(In my blue world)

I turn to stone when you are gone
I turn to stone

"Turn to Stone" written by Jeff Lynne, recorded by The Electric Light Orchestra on "Out of the Blue"

So much has been written about this passage, the turning of Lot's wife to stone, rock salt to be specific. It frequently wraps abound disobedience, she was smited because she did not do as the angels commanded. It's a pretty good lesson, but what if there is more? What if this is a lesson about how grief consumes us?

The family of Lot went from extended generations and dozens of cousins to exactly four in a flash. They had heard the threat prophesied against the city, a very nasty city. As they left town, the Lord rained sulfur and fire out of heaven onto Sodom and Gomorrah. It consumed everything, the cities and the inhabitants, and all the flora and fauna. Everything was gone. Lot's family didn't have a rear view mirror, but I can imagine they would have been able to see the brewing storm as sulfur and fire flew out of the skies like meteorites.

Majestic? Sure. Terrifying? Better be. Putrid? The sulfur smell, you bet. Everything Lot's wife knew, except for her husband and daughters, everything was gone, long gone. Grief and sorrow would be obvious responses. Jeff Lynne sang it well, "The city streets are empty now. (The lights don't shine no more)"

The proper amount of grief is a healthy part of life. Excessive grief is unhealthy. Excessive grief can cause us to stop in our tracks and stop time from moving at all. It can turn us to stone. In a funk of desperation, depression, and sadness; all you can see is "The echoes of the daylight, of everything that is alive in my blue world." And in Lot's wife's blue world, there was little left alive. She was turned to rock salt.

I offer no cheery pep-talk here. I offer that the people of scripture shared the same experiences we do everyday. There is joy, we like to focus on that. There is sorrow and pain and misery. We don't like that so much. Yet in all circumstances, the Lord is with us. In all times of our life, God walks alongside us. Even when we are so consumed with pain, grief, and sorrow it turns us to stone, Emmanuel, God is with us.