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.” Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! (Gen 19,17-18)

"Escape to the mountains". In interpreting a particular story in Scripture, it is good to be somewhat sober so as not to interpret pragmatic passages too figuratively, but in this case it suggests directly to say that when God saves a person, brings him out of his old existence, He lifts him up. What a contrast with Lot's choice of long ago - he chose for his life the lowlands of Sodom, where destruction would eventually await him. God now urges him to go out, and he is to go - up to the mountain. Mountains have always been the meeting place with God - for Moses, the prophets, Jesus and the apostles. Only under very specific conditions has God sent a man down to meet him - as a sign, with the valley symbolizing the trial or humiliation.

Man must find his high places and learn to stay on them in order to be able to stand against the pressures of this world and triumph. God therefore teaches us to walk in higher ways, "The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills. (Hab. 3:19)"...and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way." 1 Kor 12:31)

Lot, however, is not accustomed to heights; the idea terrifies him. Having lived in a vibrant city for the last few years, always among people, he and his wife would clearly prefer Sodom and life there to the discomfort of the heights. The loneliness, the eerie silence - Lot was not used to seeking God and spending time in communion with Him. The high places are not at all something he is drawn to, where he wants to be. And again, as he did all those years ago, he believes he can choose his own path, and his choice will be better than God's. How could this all end?