Before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, He sent angels to warn Lot and his family to get out of town: ‘“Run for your lives!” [one warned]. “And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”…But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt’ (vv. 17, 26 NLT). By looking back, Lot’s wife disobeyed a direct instruction from God. And as a result of being stuck in the past, she lost her life. There are three important lessons for us in this story. 1) ‘Don’t…stop anywhere in the valley!’ We all go through valley experiences in life, but we mustn’t get stuck in them or choose to stay in them. 2) ‘And don’t look back.’ The windscreen in a car is larger than the rear-view mirror – it’s a reminder that we’re supposed to spend most of our time looking forwards, and only glancing in the other occasionally, in order to make corrections so that we can continue to move forwards safely and reach our destination. 3) ‘Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!’ When someone hurts us, we have two choices: take the high road or the low road. When we take the low road and retaliate, something within us begins to die spiritually. But when we take the high road, we grow stronger, wiser, and more mature. When we get stuck in the past, it’s always at the expense of the future. Always! God has better days and better things in store. So forgive, and move forwards.
