Don't look back...

... or you'll turn to salt.

I've always been abit mesmerized by the biblical story of the destruction Sodom of Gomorrah. In Genesis 19... two angels grab Lot and his family and in order to save them from God's wrath they take them by the hand and drag them out of the city and then exclaim...

"Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!" (Gen. 19:17). But it is verse 26 that always gets me...

" But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt."

Somehow she became a pillar of salt... because she looked back. And I often wonder why she looked back. Did she forget to pack something valuable? Did she wonder if God was seriously going to destroy the city? Did she long for the good old days? Did she miss her friends? Was it regret... sadness... a sense of loss?

And then I wonder what is in this lesson for me? Is there something about looking back that can make us salty. And I think so. Sometimes through the circumstances of life... God sends us out to a new future... and we should not look back. We should not live in the past... or hope in the past... or regret the past... but should look forward.

This is a very real thing for me now. Just 2 weeks ago I concluded a pastoral position at a local church without any clarity on what I will be doing in the future. So the past is very real and my future is very uncertain.

And it has been very tempting for me to look back. To wonder why things ended as they did. To wonder if I could have or should have done things differently. Or even better I am tempted to visit the web-site to see what they are up to... what new thing is going on... or what new faces show up.

And you know what... I can get a bit salty. I can become sad... or remorseful... or deflated... or depressed... because I am no longer in the mix... that has past. Someone else has taken over and replaced me.

I have found that it is very important for me to remember that God has clearly sent me out and has a new future for me. It is important for me to take hold of the future and let go of the past. It is necessary for me to embrace new dreams and release old ones. It is more healthy for me to look forward with hope than to look back with regret.... because....

I don't want to turn to salt.