DON’DON'T LOOK BACK, a Devotion for 18 January 2025 |
32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. Luke 17:32-33
God has provided adequate warning to the sinner of the danger of recidivism into our old man who lusted and languished for things unworthy of the Christian professor.
What does looking back on our lives of sin mean? It means to remember and relive the same old sinful ways that we found so attractive in past years. We long for the desires of the flesh, for money, for status, etc., which we had before coming to Christ. It results in a longing for those times and eventually returning thereto. We are given a vivid description of this relapse of devotion in 2 Peter 2:22 – “But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”
One profound example of this looking back in longing of the old life is given in Genesis. In the 19th chapter of the Book of Genesis is recorded an account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities lay in the Vale of Siddim just south of the Dead Sea and are now inundated by the sea. Zoar was a small city to the east of the Vale of Siddim and just before the mountains on the western boundary of the declivity of Moab whose ruins are still intact. Interestingly, the largest cemetery in the world of thousands of graves is located at Zoar. God warned Lot and his family to flee the city, and even gave them an angelic escort. But Lot’s wife could not countenance the loss of her fashionable robes, her jewelry, her ease of life, and her reprobate friends of old. These longings resulted in a severe judgment being levelled against Lot’s wife.
What did Lot’s wife do to bring upon herself the wrath of God? She looked back on her old life of opulence and social standing in Sodom even among the wicked. She was in violation of Psalms 1:1 Blessed man walketh not counsel of ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Interestingly, the wife of Lot is given no name in Scripture. Why not, you may wonder? The sinner who dies in their sins need no name in the darkness of death to which they are destined.
I know many Christin-professing men who have given evidence of their salvation both verbally and behaviorally; yet, in moments of abandon, will smile with relish in letting me know that they were ‘rounders’ in the former days to that salvation. That old life is nothing to relish, ands dwelling on the memories of that life can profit nothing.
We should take note of the counsel given by Paul in Philippians 3:13-14 - 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
A good soldier on the long march does not focus on the path only a few feet ahead, but the distant trail to which he is marching. Likewise, the distant runner looks to the horizon as a goal and not concentrate on the very next step. There is a life lesson in that principle, and Paul lays it out best in the text thus cited above. Let us consider a few salient points regarding the wife of Lot:
Who was Lot’s wife?
We are not told of her family origin.
We are not given her name.
She is without history or lineage.
She was wedded to the world.
She had daughters other than the two virgins who perished in the destruction of Sodom. Yet, we are told to remember her – not in name, but in failure. She rejected the salvation offered by God in favor of her old life among the godless. Just like the rich man who showed no compassion on the beggar, Lazarus, God did not account her worthy of even sharing her name. Her name did not matter since it was not recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life. She was not a good mother as evidenced by the action of her two daughters in sleeping with their father and bearing his sons.
Her treasures were unfit for Heaven and were destined to perish along with her soul in the dark dominion of Hell.
One other point: It was Lot who decided to pitch his tent “over against Sodom” and would finally end up dwelling in that wicked city and becoming a judge in the gate thereof. This decision was likely to influence his wife and daughters to resort to blatant sin: “Blessed in the man walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” Psalms 1:1
Since we have come to realize our calling and election in Christ, I pray that we no longer account our old lives as worthy of looking back upon in envy or pleasure. We are new creations in God in communion with his church and have no communion with that old worldly spirit that once ruled our souls and self-wills.
