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Jesus could have told us to remember various women from His Life.
Certainly Mary, His Mother. Or Mary Magdalene, who became a devoted follower.
Perhaps the woman at the well or the woman taken in adultery or the woman with the issue of blood.
Certainly the woman who anointed Him with expensive perfume. He did say she would be remembered.
But … there was only one woman He told us specifically to remember. Who was it?
Jesus said,
“Remember Lot’s wife.”
Luke 17:32
Why? What is so important about Lot’s wife?
We don’t really know much about her … except … God delivered her from certain disaster … and she looked back.
We do not know why. Curiosity maybe. Or maybe a momentary battle in her mind about the familiarity of the past versus the uncertainty of the future.
In any case, her looking back immobilized her. She was frozen in time as a pillar of salt.
There would be others who looked back. The children of Israel were also delivered by God. But they too looked back and wanted to go back to their slavery.
Even though God had miraculously provided for them, because they could not see what He would do next, they doubted. They were hemmed in between their enemies and the sea.
David had numerous times when he looked back and was in the agony of despair and defeat. Fear of his enemies terrified him. He went from conquering a giant to hiding in a cave.
Peter and Judas looked back and were consumed with regret. They wanted to go back and make different choices. And yet they could not. They believed their past would forever be greater than their future. They were trapped between sin and grace.
Is there anything that is keeping you from moving forward in joy?
Curiosity about what’s happening in your old life?
Temptation to believe the good old days were better than where you are now?
Perhaps a feeling you can’t ever change. You think you were just destined to be where you were instead of where you are or will be.
Hesitancy to step into an unknown future?
Fear that God will not take care of you in the future, even though you know He has provided in the past?
Are you trying to do something God does not do? God does not remember sins. Once they are swallowed up in His Grace, they no longer exist. Are you spending your time wishing you could rewrite the past instead of moving forward with a clean slate?
Yes, remember Lot’s wife. For all we do not know about her, we know where her earthly life stopped. It stopped when she looked back. Don’t be like Lot’s wife.
Be like Paul.
Paul said,
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14
