Note: The following article is part of what I presented at a Pure Life Event for teens recently. However, the truth is that purity is not just for teens and it’s an issue that everyone deals with in every area of life. Part 2 will be posted next Tuesday.
Genesis 19:16. This one verse tells us that ‘Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.’ This is in direct opposition to what the angel told her to do, which was to not look back. It would be easy for us to assume that this was a simple Yoda decision. ‘Do or do not. There is no try.’ We could assume that this was as simple as Lot and his wife being told not to look back as they ran from Sodom and Gomorrah.
But this story starts long before that.
Back in Genesis 13 Abraham and Lot are living in a land between the cities of Bethel and Ai. But because they are both rich and have so many flocks and herds, the land is not big enough. It’s causing fights between their servants, so Abraham tells Lot to look around. There is a whole Earth here. He gives Lot the first choice. If Lot goes left, Abe will go right, or vice versa.
Lot chose a well-watered land that took him to the city of Zoar, a city near Sodom and Gomorrah, already well known for being a wicked city, full of sin. This begs a couple of questions.
What are you running towards? What are you looking at?
By the very next chapter, we read that Lot is now living in Sodom. It didn’t take long for Lot to become immersed in the culture around him. Things quiet down until God chooses to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But all of this time in between, Lot and his wife are living there, soaking it all in. God, being merciful, agrees to rescue Lot and his family before the cities are destroyed.
Two angels arrive at night. They tell Lot to gather his family and flee to the mountains. Lot takes all night, trying to stall and get his sons-in-law to come with him. By the time the angels convince Lot this is actually happening, it is almost morning. Due to the now short amount of time he’s no longer running to the mountains, but back to Zoar. The angels’ commands are simple but strenuous at this point. Flee for your lives! Flee quickly! Don’t look back! Don’t stop!
What are you running towards? What are you looking at?
It is now that we come back to Genesis 19:16, ‘Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.’ In his book, Flashbang, Mark Steele comments on this story;
Fire and sulfur rained down from heaven that day.
It was quite a spectacle and, ultimately, a distraction.
A distraction that caused Lot’s wife to turn around for a lone glance that turned her into a statue of salt.
Now much has been debated concerning the fairness of the wife’s comeuppance. OF COURSE she would turn around and look back! It was RAINING FIRE, for crying out loud! How could God possibly expect them to be able to run away during a firestorm without looking back?!
But God did not expect them to run away during a firestorm without looking back – because God did not expect them to run away during a firestorm at all. Had they obeyed God’s version of the plan, they would have been gone long before the fire fell.
Lot’s wife looked back because of relationships she had built back there. Though they may have managed to remain righteous in a land where everyone else was sinning (at least enough for God to save them), they were looking at behavior that became their new normal.
What are you running towards? What are you looking at?
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” ~Hebrews 12:1-3
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