To Look Or Not To Look

Genesis 19: 17, 26

When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.”

But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Luke 15: 17

But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!’

To look or not to look? That is the question. One question that has plagued mankind from ancient days. Lot and his family settled in Sodom and Gomorrah comfortably after years of wandering. They have been accepted in that society so much so that Lot became one of the elders of the city. Their daughters were engaged to local men. All was going well for Lot, his wife and their two daughters. All of a sudden, God pronounced judgment on the twin cities for their wicked deeds. Overnight, God commanded them to leave everything behind and run for their lives.

Lot and his daughters obeyed and in panic ran towards the mountains. However, Lot’s wife, heartbroken to leave her nice home, her friends and neighbors, and her life behind so abruptly, turned around and looked back longingly at what she was leaving behind. It was her yearning for what she was leaving behind instead of the longing for what lay ahead caused her to turn into a pillar of salt. God was preventing them from looking back because he was destroying that past to dust and ashes so they could never return to that.

Numerous times in our own lives, God snatches us away from situations that could have been detrimental to us if we remained. We may not be prepared for such drastic change but God in His infinite mercy is protecting us from the impending pain or trouble. We may have been in toxic relationships that are causing us to stray away from God and make excuses to continue in our sin. Several times, we wouldn’t even know we were in the wrong because we chose to go with the flow of the current time. We didn’t want trouble when trouble was brewing all around us. Instead of escaping with our lives, we chose to compromise, we chose to yearn for the things that were familiar and comfortable.

In the story of the prodigal son, in his dire circumstances, he longed for a decent meal. He remembered the days of plenty and luxury in his father’s house. He remembered the comfort, the love and joy of his father’s house. He even remembered that the servants in his father’s household had excess food. Because he longed for the comfort of his father’s house, he chose to humble himself and return to his father’s house. The humiliation he was enduring was too much to bear. For his sin that he committed against his father, he was willing to bear whatever punishment his father would render him but return and remain in his father’s household.

We may have been the prodigal who chose to run after the world and its attractions. After getting burned, after exhausting all our resources, after getting betrayed, finding ourselves lonely, wasted and rejected, we remember the good old days. The joy and comfort of a loving family, the goodness of God we may have enjoyed, the peace of God that pervaded our entire being – all beckon us to return home. Looking and longing for the goodness of our past is wonderful as it causes us to steer ourselves back on to the familiar yet straight and narrow path.

Dear Sojourners, wherever we find ourselves in this life’s journey, it is always good to gauge ourselves against the Word of God. When God has taken us far away from the evil that could have ruined us, we should be grateful for the rescue and not yearn for such a past. When God has reminded us of our past where we have basked in the lap of His goodness, we should be grateful for such a beautiful past and yearn to return to it. As long as we are in His will, living out His purposes for His glory and for His Kingdom, it is our prerogative to either return to His fold or strive to enter His fold. It is our prerogative to look or not to look based on our situation.

Jeremiah 6: 16 – 17

Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

“And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’” Yes, there is wisdom in the ancient paths. Let us chose to adhere to those ancient paths for there is freedom, love, joy, comfort, peace and prosperity. Irrespective of our past, let us forge ahead towards the eternity that awaits us. Let us set our eyes on Christ, who was, who is and who is to come!