LOOK NOT BEHIND

“And it came to pass, when they brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” (Genesis19:17).

The angels of God arrived in Sodom and Gomorrah at dusk. Lot saw them, and had compassion on them.  He entreated them to lodge at his house that evening for their own safety.  Lot had become accustomed to this city and the conduct of its people.  He seemed to know how to deal with them.  The order to leave the city immediately and not to look behind seemed hard for his wife.  Sometimes we too find it hard to leave behind the things which hinder our spiritual growth.  When we get comfortable in our sins, we become dull to righteousness.

There are things in our lives we ought to remember. David in Psalms 103:2 tells us not to forget the Lord’s benefits towards us.  We have to remember the goodness of the Lord at all times.  Yet there are things we should not look back at.  If we are pressing forward, looking back will slow us down, or cause us to trip and fall.

It is for this reason that Paul writes the Galatians in Chapter 5:1 saying, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage”.  Rather we must rejoice for the renewing of our minds, and for being new creatures in Christ.  For whom the Son of man sets free is free indeed.

There are not any benefits of looking back.  The children of Israel constantly looked back and longed for Egypt.  That hindered them obeying and serving God.  Lot’s wife looked back, and turned into a pillar of salt.  When confronted with conflicting choices of where we come from and who we use to be, in contrast to looking forward where we are going, we must concentrate on who we are becoming so that we can grow.  For us to break free from sin, we must completely break free from our past, so we can start afresh.  We must not look back; we must forget those things which are behind.

Meditation: “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, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).