Granny's Place

Important Announcement

The MSN Groups service will close in February 2009. You can move your group to Multiply, MSN’s partner for online groups. Learn More

Lot's Wife:

Why was it so important to God that no one looked back?Because He wanted them to obey Him, sure, but why was it imperative that they obeyed Him? Was is because He was God and He said so? Not really, that wasn't the point.

The Bible says that Lot's wife not only looked back, but she looked back with longing in her heart. Not only did she disobey God, but she turned away from Him, in her heart.

I remember telling God once that I would never look back. And He said, "Yes, you would have. In fact, you already have."

So, I got to thinking, "Why would she look back?" What she treasured most was back there. She turned back to what was there, instead of looking forward and keeping her sight on God. When she looked back, that was her signal to God that He wasn't first. That she treasured the world more than she treasured God.

I've been in a situation where I know God (pretty much) physically pulled me out of that situation. He knew that the situation was going to destroy me and divide me from Him. But I looked back when it was all said and done, and I was sadden because I missed the "good times" that I did have in that situation.

He had pulled me out and saved my future and my relationship with Him. He had done me a favor (He didn't have to do that), nonetheless, because he loved me enough to make sure I wasn't seperated from Him. What did I do? I looked back. Yet, God didn't destroy me like he did Lot's wife. What happened to me then? I destroyed myself. I became bitter and indifferent. There was a point where I knew He was God and that I was to serve Him and love Him and try to strive to live my life to not only represent Him, but to allow Him to be able to bless my life becaue I was doing what He says. However, I didn't care. I knew that I shouldn't have looked back, but should have praised Him for saving my life. I prayed to Him and told Him that if He had to knock me flat on my back to draw me back to Him, then to do it. I was so bitter that even when I wanted to serve Him, I couldn't.

[Message to the reader: This was written by me in March of 2002. Today is May 2003. God literally did knock me on my back. ]

This is great "Preaching and Teaching" Beth!! I never have thought of "why did Lot's wife look back"

I only thought of her fate because she disobayed and looked back

. I've also wondered why they didn't give her name. I think maybe I had not paid attention and missed the whole point of this scripture

!! Thanks for explanning it so even I can understand. Keep up the great work for God!! God Bless You. Lots of Love Aunt Betty

Why did she look back?

The context does not specifically give a reason, but she probably had an inordinate love for the world and the material things she had in Sodom. Obviously, Lot was a wealthy man who had enough livestock and servants to cause a problem while he lived with Abraham (Genesis 13:5-7). He and his wife may have had a palatial house with many fine furnishings, servants to do her bidding, fine clothes, sumptuous food and frequent entertainment.

Also, Lot had achieved prominence among the citizens of Sodom beyond his wealth. Genesis 19:1 shows him sitting in the gate of the city, a place usually reserved for the elders and judges. Lot's wife may have been reconsidering her decision to forsake the privileges of her high social status and her prominent friends.

Maybe she just loved the ways of this world more than God. John writes:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (I John 2:15-17)

There may be more to it, however, than we have thought. Most people assume that Lot had only two daughters, but this is not the case. He says to the Sodomites, "See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man" (Genesis 19:8). He had two unmarried daughters. Later, in verse 14, he "spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters," meaning he had other married daughters who were not virgins. Finally, the angels tell him, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here" (verse 15), implying he had daughters elsewhere.

Since Lot and his wife had more than two daughters, they left more than just material possessions in the city. When God rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom, their married daughters and sons-in-law—and possibly grandchildren—perished with the rest of the city's populace. What a poignant and tragic test of their faith!

Thus, when Lot's wife fled for little Zoar, her wealth, her house and her social circle were not the only things on her mind. Those concerns were insignificant beside the certain death of her flesh and blood. Perhaps she did not believe that God would follow through on His threat. As a loving mother, her emotions for her doomed family in the city clouded her ability to make proper decisions.

Though it goes against our human nature, God requires us to have more allegiance to Him than to the members of our own families. For His disciples, leaving family members behind to do God's will may be the most common hardship that they have to face as they come out of this world (Revelation 18:4). Perhaps this is why He reminds us to "remember Lot's wife." The day may soon come when we will have to heed God's warnings without hesitation to flee again.

"In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back" (Luke 17:31). When God commands His elect to flee to a place of safety, many of us will be required to entrust unconverted family members to God's mercy. Without doubt, this will be the greatest test of our spiritual lives. We will know that before us lies life and hope and behind us death and destruction, just as Lot and his family experienced in fleeing Sodom.

I just reread this teaching and got a blessing and renewed insight on the perils of ‘Looking Back�?

God is still warning us not to look back. Looking back is deadly. There are many things God has commanded us to flee. Jesus tells us �?wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:�?A disobedient spirit will not follow the path he/she is commanded to walk, and they fall into to a ‘delusion�?that they are on the right path …not realizing that they have been deceived …Pr 16:25) “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.�?It seems also that many turn back thinking that the ‘straight and narrow�?is an impossible path to walk. With this mindset they are right, for it s impossible to walk strait.. . Looking back.

In our walk we sometimes stumble and fall, and ‘wonder what happened?�?Well what happened is we

Looked back, and fell out of step with the Lord. May we regain our foothold on the path that He has chosen..and never look back.. “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.�?Mt 7:14.)

Let us forget those things that are behind, and reach forth unto those things, which are before us, and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Amen!! I am still learning from that scripture

!! Ya'll keep it coming,,great teaching

BETH YOU DID A WONDERFUL JOB ON THIS. YOU GOT ALL THIS FROM YOUR WOMENS DEVOTIONAL BIBLE? I GOTTA GET ONE.

Important Announcement The MSN Groups service will close in February 2009. You can move your group to Multiply, MSN’s partner for online groups. Learn More
Granny's Place	[email protected]