I was talking recently with a couple of people about Lot's wife.(It reminded me of a song from the '70's.) It was mostly in fun, really. "How did Lot not look back when his wife turned into a pillar of salt?" I mean it specifically says, "But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt" (Gen 19:26). And he didn't look back .. to see her? But ... it's an interesting story.
Sodom and Gomorrah had become completely corrupt. God planned to destroy it, but He told Lot, "Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away" (Gen 19:17). And they fled ... and Lot's wife, a native, looked back. Why was that an issue? I mean, Abraham looked and he didn't suffer any consequences (Gen 19:27-29). Lot certainly looked at his wife -- behind him -- but didn't suffer consequences. So it was neither the destruction itself nor the direction. It was, most obviously from the text, a violation of God's command -- "Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley." There are always consequences for sin. But obviously it was more than that. Lot's wife looked back -- at her home, her world, her everything -- and longed for it. Why would I say that? The Hebrew word isn't "glance" or the like. It is "nâbaṭ" which means "to look intently at" with the implication "to regard with pleasure, favor or care." Her violation wasn't the look; it was the longing.
How often do we look back? How many times (a day) do we look at what's around us that Scripture refers to as "the world" (1 John 2:15-17) with longing? We sing songs about "turn your eyes upon Jesus," but how often do we look elsewhere? With desire? We should be "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb 12:2). Don't look back.
4 comments:
For someone like me with an excellent memory and recall abilities, it’s all too easy to look back, and I’ve found that it’s generally an unhelpful activity if doing so dredges up regrets or unhappy times. (Several times in my life I’ve needed to affirm, “out with the old, and in with the new.”) A “selective memory” is better--preferably one that focuses on answered prayer and lessons learned. In your writing today, I see a warning not only against looking back (longing for a former life) but also looking around (at the world’s pleasures)--both of which can breed discontentment and take our eyes off Jesus, as you say. A good word for today: Don’t look back; don’t look around. Look up! Jesus is coming again!
Hopefully, the story of the Christian life should be an increase in fixating in Christ and a decrease in fixating in life. Praise God that He shows mercy, instead of turning us to pillars of salt as we deserve.
My "Don't look back" was essentially "at the world" from whence we came, not so much in time. The present world from which we came is just as dangerous.
I see what you mean: Don’t look back again once you’ve turned away from sinful activity, people, or places, or we might be drawn back in (like a dog that returns to its vomit). Thanks for clarifying. (You probably needed another line or two in your post to make that super-clear--at least to me.) I might not have been too far off from that in my thoughts, though, since those “regrets” and “unhappy times” I mentioned were connected to that “world from whence [I] came.” It’s just that I’m old enough to have lots of that in my past!
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