No Turning Back
In the last couple of lessons, we’ve been looking at Lot’s rescue from a city on the brink of destruction. Our next lesson comes to us courtesy of Lot’s wife.
Having been granted his request to find shelter in a nearby town rather than fleeing all the way to the mountains, Lot took off with his family and safely reached Zoar before disaster struck, wiping out not only Sodom and Gomorrah but the entire plain and destroying all those living in the cities.
Lot and his family had made it to safety.
Not all of them, however, stayed safe. According to Genesis 19:26:
Just like that.
It isn’t as though she hadn’t been warned. Remember this?
In the lack of fanfare, it’s almost easy to miss the devastation. Her life suddenly and appallingly reduced to a pile of salt, she leaves behind Lot with two motherless daughters (who, by the way, had also just lost their fiances).
All because of one look back.
Could it have been nothing more than a momentary lapse in judgement or a second of carelessness which cost Lot’s wife her life? Or maybe a matter of “simple curiosity” which ended in a consequence that was anything but simple?
We have no way of knowing what was behind her look back but one thing is certain:
Whether a careless glance, a wistful gaze, or a stare of longing for what used to be, that look reminds us that focusing on the past leads to destruction.
Lot’s wife teaches us that when God removes us from somewhere we don’t need to be and gives us an opportunity to start again, our hearts cannot remain in the old place.
It teaches us to be protective about our hearts, cautious about the desires we cling to and careful about the promises we let go.
After putting in the effort required to reach safety, how awful to think a failure of focus would cause Lot’s wife to lose everything she’d fought to achieve. Her tragic story reminds us to be diligent in guarding against satan’s efforts to distract and cause us to lose focus on the hope God has set before us.
Finally, it serves as a graphic reminder to keep moving forward.
Lot’s wife couldn’t put herself wholeheartedly into the life before her while she was preoccupied with the one she left behind. Neither can we.
Be it good, bad or indifferent, what lies behind is…. behind. We can’t undo, re-do or re-claim it.
Being preoccupied with the past is, however, an excellent way to avoid being present; it’s one more tool in satan’s never ending effort to discourage and keep us from being effective today.
The story of Lot’s wife challenges us to press on.
It reminds us to focus on the joys in front of us instead of regrets about those things that are behind.
And hopefully, it inspires us to make the most of today’s possibilities as we eagerly anticipate the promises of tomorrow.
Until next time!
Kim
