Don't Look Back - Lot's Wife

image credit: blog.biblia.com

Lot and his family, although they were aware of the wickedness in the city they called home, were not ready to leave - even when God's angels explained urgently that they must leave immediately.  There were not a lot of answers and there was not a lot of time.  Both Lot and his wife hesitated, but her hesitation is the one we remember.

"Her disobedient hesitation became proverbial in later generations." (NIV Study Bible).  Jesus even says, "Remember Lot's wife," (Luke 17:32) when he is trying to explain the Kingdom of God and the sacrifices we must make.  We will not know the day or the time, but we need to be ready to go, without looking back.

My sister in-law recently spoke about how we like to live on the beach.  We park ourselves there and enjoy the view.  We can see the ocean, and even dip our toes into the water, but we don't have to fully commit.  It's safe on the beach, but the ocean is full of unknowns.  We can't see the bottom, so we don't know where our feet are going, or what they are stepping on.  The ocean is vast and it can be hard, if not impossible, to see land - so if you were to step out too far, you would be way too far from the safety of the beach.  There are sharks and jellyfish and huge waves that can pull you under.

But God calls us off the beach and into the ocean.  He wants us stepping out in faith and following Him - without looking back - without hesitating - with complete and authentic surrender.

Sometimes we don't know, nor do we understand, why God calls us away from something - especially when it's all we know.  But he does lead us away from something that seems good because He has something even better.  Sometimes He wants to stretch us.  And sometimes He is rescuing us.  But we have to move - to follow - to trust...without looking back and longing for what God wants left behind us.

Lot's wife didn't trust.  She didn't understand what God was doing.  All she could think about was what she had left behind instead of what lay in front of her.

We all have a hopeless situation in our past that we have been delivered from - and we all know how hard it is to not glance back, longingly at "the good old days" - even when we know they were not that great.  But we are called to move forward - even if that is into the unknown - not trusting in the past, but leaning into the future.

So get off the shore and get in the ocean!!!  Don't look back!!!


You can read more about Lot's Wife's story at She Reads Truth.  Also read Genesis 19:12 - 29 and Luke 17:28 - 35.