Remember Lot’s wife? She’s the one who turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back on her former home in Sodom. It’s a weird and somewhat shocking story in the Old Testament (read more in Genesis 19:24-26) and people often assume that Lot’s wife was punished for the simple act of looking over her shoulder. That actually is not an accurate interpretation. In fact, the Bible says that as Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by the Lord, Abraham and Lot looked while it was burning, so the “looking“ wasn’t the issue. (Genesis 19:27-28) So what was the problem?
When the Bible says that Lot’s wife “looked back”, the real word tells us that she was pondering or considering her former life. As she looked back over her life in Sodom and Gomorrah, two of the wickedest, most depraved, filthy cities in all of human history, she was already missing it! The Lord knew her heart. While the Bible is silent on many of the details about this story, we do know that her “looking back” was really a pondering and considering of what she once had, her former life. Here’s the nugget of wisdom in this story: If you look back, you eventually WILL go back.
First, it’ll begin in your heart, and soon enough you’ll simply drift or wander or even intentionally march right back into your former ways, your old habits, your addictions, your old friendships, your ungodly influences, the things that you once cried to God about- to rescue you. And He did. Then, because you refuse to “FORGET those things which are behind” as Paul said, and “press on” toward Christ, you entertain the memories of what you once had, you’ll then begin to “lust” for it (Numbers 11:4-5) and then you’ll go back. Maybe it was easier then, or you had more money, or more peace or whatever else – but “looking back” is a trap to prevent you from walking in the direction of the “future and hope” God has for you. (Jeremiah 29:11) In the end, your life will be like hers: a cautionary tale, both a symbol of death and a monument of warning, as Lot’s wife became. God has MORE for you, but it is in FRONT of you, NOT behind you! <3
Remember this. Share it with your friends. Challenge someone.
If you keep looking backward, you’ll eventually move in that direction.
