No Turning Back

Have you ever tried to take steps forward while looking back? How did that go? Probably not too well, huh? Chances are you probably almost ran into something or someone or you went in the wrong direction. Now every and then, we may take a quick glance behind us, but then we keep going. We don't need to stare too long at what's behind us though. Staring too long at what's behind us can have severe consequences. In Genesis 19:15-26, we see a situation in which looking back caused severe consequences for an individual. So let's take a look! In Genesis 19:15, we see an instruction given to a man named Lot that he was to get his wife and daughters out of the city they were living in because it was about to be destroyed. The city, Sodom and Gomorrah, was wicked and the people living there were doing wicked and evil things. God had enough of the evil and the city was about to be destroyed. However, God wanted Lot's family to get out before that happened. Look at God's protection! Now when we read further in Genesis 19, verse 17 tells us that they were told not to look behind them as they left or stay in the plains. They were told to go to the mountains. Lot didn't want to go to the mountains, but he was able to go to a city called Zoar. Verse 22 tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah could not be destroyed until Lot and his family got to Zoar. Once again, God's protection is all over them! So, Lot and his family go to Zoar. As soon as they get there, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Do you remember the instruction given in verse 17 that they were not to look back at Sodom and Gomorrah? Hmmmm....well, somebody didn't listen and looked back anyway. Lot's wife took a glance behind her and then turned into a pillar of salt (v.26). Her life ended because she disobeyed and looked behind her when she wasn't supposed to. I know it gets tempting to look behind us sometimes, but it costs Lot's wife her life! Sodom and Gomorrah represented the past and where they used to live. Zoar represented their present and new place of residence. Do we think about our past? Oh sure! We all have from time to time. When we think about our past, we should thank God for all He kept and brought us through. We should take the lessons it taught us. I know we had some good times in our past too, but don't miss out on making new memories now. No, we can't physically go back and live in our past, yet a lot of times in our minds we do. We replay scenes from our past over and over again. We think about what could have been and should have been. But guess what? None of those things will change our past. We have to make up in our mind that we are not going to live in our past nor let it control us. I know it can be hard at times to make decisions because of what happened in your past. We all have been there! That's when we have to ask God to help us through and trust Him all the way. We have to be determined that there's no turning back! There's no turning back to wrong relationships, wrong thoughts, wrong mindsets, wrong motives, wrong attitudes, wrong lifestyles. It's not worth going back to! Trust me: repeating the same old cycles and patterns gets miserable fast and will cause you to stay stuck. It will lead you right back to where you started at every single time. So, start a new pattern. Every day, tell yourself you can and will move forward. Tell yourself it's a new day and you have new memories to make today. There is more in the story of your life than what you can see right now. Turn the page. By living in the past, we miss out on what God wants to do in and through us right now. I don't want to miss out on anything God wants to do in my life and I hope you don't want to either! Lot's wife's story ended too soon. Don't let that be your story. I know it looks tempting, but don't do it. No turning back!