Don't Look Back!

“After getting them out, the men said, “Save your lives!  Don’t look back!” Gen.19:17(a) (CEB)

This was the command given to Lot and his family by the messengers God sent to bring them out of Sodom.  The story is a familiar one, and if you read on you will see that Lot’s wife does look back and it is the end of her life.  She turns into a pillar of salt.  My focus here is not on what came to pass with Lot’s wife, but on the instruction to not look back.

The more I considered this verse; it came to mind that these very words, “don’t look back” can be applied in different connotations.  Although we most likely will not be turned into a pillar of salt, once we accept Jesus as our Savior, if we begin looking back, we will be just as useless as a pillar of salt.  We should not take a look back at our past at the risk of getting mired down in perhaps (1) trying to figure it out, (2) thinking on how we could have done differently or (3) becoming depressed that we didn’t do better. 

Stepping out in faith requires no looking back!  Let me provide a few examples from the scriptures.

·         Isaiah 43:18-19 – Don’t remember the prior things; don’t ponder ancient history.  Look! I am doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it?  I’m making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness.

·         Phil. 3:13 – Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing:  I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me.”

·         Luke 9:62 – Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand on the plow and looks back is fit for God’s kingdom.”

These are but a few examples of the warnings and instructions about looking back.  As Paul said in Philippians in verse 13, we have to reach out, look ahead and most of all, look up! 

As Luke writes in chapter 17 beginning around verse 20 concerning the coming of God’s kingdom, one final warning comes in verse 32, “Remember Lot’s wife!”  Children of the kingdom need only to look ahead.  It is our future we should be focused on – eternal life with our Savior.

One last thought as I bring this devotion to a close with a portion of a poem by Julie Carro, is don’t worry or dwell on anything you “leave behind”.  All the things behind cannot compare to what lies ahead!

Only don't look back and wonder, what you might leave behind, Just give your heart to Jesus, in one simple line...."Lord, I am a sinner, please cleanse me of my sin, For I believe You lived and died, and then You rose again!"