A PILLAR OF SALT
“Remember Lot’s wife.”
-Luke 17:32-
Three simple words with so much meaning. The scriptures before the one quoted above have been talking about the day of judgment. The verses before say “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.”
“Remember Lot’s wife.” Out of about 170 women in the bible, this is the only one we are TOLD to remember. Why Lot’s wife? We are not even told her name! The story of Lot and his family fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah is in Genesis 19. These two cities had become so evil that God was going to destroy them. Abraham was told by God that these cities would be destroyed. Abraham knew his brother’s son, Lot and family, lived in Sodom. He asked God if there were 50 righteous, all the way down to 10, if He would still destroy the city. Two angels visited Lot and told him that the cities were going to be destroyed and told him to get his family and leave. His sons-in-law thought he was joking. Lot lingered and the angels actually had to take their hands and lead them out of the city. Lot, his wife and two daughters ran to the city of Zoar. “…the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind her, and she became a pillar of salt.”
The command by God, was simple “Do not look behind you…” (v. 17) But yet Lot’s wife turned her head and looked back. Was she reluctant to leave? Why do you think she turned back? I am sure when God destroyed those cities there was a lot of noise from the inhabitants and the actual fire that destroyed them. Was she just wanting to see what was happening? Was she remembering the friends she had that lived in her city? Was she thinking of all she had left behind? No matter what she was thinking, she disobeyed God. She was reluctant to leave. Her destruction was sudden. Nothing was left of her but a mineral heap. She was calcified and stuck right there, with no future.
So, what can we learn from this? There are so many lessons we can take from this. I want to center on the fact that God does not want us stuck in our past but rather onward to our future! The verse we started out with in Luke, represents Lot’s wife as those who are attached to earthly things, those whose hearts are still in this world. Like Lot’s wife, such people will perish.
I have heard so many people say, before covid and after covid. People are stuck back in how they want things in this world to be, but we will never go back to before we had the crippling disease of covid. There are so many things that we can look back and keep ourselves stuck in past times. Maybe, you are like me and your mate has passed away, you wish you could change things you said to them or how you treated them-your child has grown up and has left home, you are at a crossroad of what to do now-you have had financial failure and want to go back and do things differently-your health has gotten worse because of bad choices you have made in your past-you have gotten older and cannot live the busy life you use to, you feel insignificant-you remember a time in history when there were not so many mass shootings and the fear out in the world today was not present. You look back to happier times, times of laughter, times of prosperity, a time you could get up in the morning and not feel painful.
We all look back and remember better times, but you can also look back and see that now, you are in a better place in your life-a better season. We can remember and use our past to propel us into the future! We can remember and use those mistakes we made to make a better future for ourselves and others! We can remember and help others- “…go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) Second Corinthians 1:4 tells us that we can comfort those who have had the same struggles, just like God has comforted us when we go thru them. We can use our past, instead of being stuck there, to help others and make a brighter future for ourselves!
In a way, I can understand Lot’s wife. If my home was on fire, I would look at it and remember all the THINGS that were being burned up by the fire. But if my God would have told me to not look back, I hope I would have had the strength to not look back! Otherwise, I would be stuck in the past, like she was.
We can be haunted by the past or we can learn from it and go towards our future! Lot’s wife was not allowed that option. Some people are like her and just stay stuck. My husband was like that. During those ten years he was mentally and physically sick, he was stuck in his past. He blamed himself for our financial troubles, because of his illness. He became severely depressed because of this blame, which he put on himself. He did not remember the things of the past, when he was a preacher, elder, deacon, or leader in Boy Scouts. He did not remember the positives in his life or all the people who he had touched, from his past. He only looked at his physical handicaps and what we had lost, supposedly because of himself. He remained in that, stuck in the past handicap for the rest of his life. How sad! I tried so many ways and times to get him to realize that he should not be stuck in those past “failures” and that he still had a life to live, just in a different way. But not me-others-therapy could get him to become “unstuck” from those negative thoughts of his past.
So, what is the main point we can learn from “Remember Lot’s wife” in Luke 17? Do not let yourself be stuck in your past failures or wishes that you could go back! Sure, when I look back at my past, there are so many happenings-failures I wish I could go back and change. But I do not dwell on them in such a way that I cannot go into my future! I am not by any means perfect but have tried to learn from the past and live the rest of my life in service for the Lord, using the past to help (especially women) others to know that there is hope and they are not alone in their earthly struggles.
Paul in Philippians 3:13-14 tells us, “…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul is one of those who could get stuck in his past. He had sought out and killed so many people who were serving the Lord. But yet he learned from those past atrocities and became a warrior for the Lord. He did not look back and become stuck. Rather he looked forward to his future, in which he could serve God and would be with the Lord one day in heaven.
When you are driving you cannot look back all the time or you are going to run into someone or something. You will be hurt! So, take heart- “remember Lot’s wife” and do not look back. She became a pillar of salt, forever in a pile of remembrances. Don’t become stuck in your past. It is human to look back and feel the pain, but don’t stay stuck there. Rather, learn from your past, and look forward, like Paul did to a better future knowing you are headed to heaven one day to be with the Lord! Respect the past, with eyes towards your future!
God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11-13, that He has a hopeful future for us. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
A pillar of salt. What a way to be remembered!
Till next time! Keela