Behind the Scenes with Lot’s Wife

Lot’s wife. I always find it interesting when someone in Scripture is defined by another person, not by their own name. We don’t know the names of Noah’s wife, Job’s wife, Lot’s wife, Manoah’s wife, Jephthah’s daughter, and those are the few I recall offhand. Do you ever wonder why some women are named and some are not? I think there might be some unnamed men as well, perhaps because they are peripheral characters.

But Lot’s wife wasn’t someone on the sidelines. She’s got a spot in history as the woman who looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.

When I wrote Sarai, I explored her character and gave her a point of view. I named her Melah, which means “salt”. In When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams, I explore her thoughts a little more, especially the part about her looking back.

DO WE EVER LONG FOR THINGS THAT ARE PAST? I KNOW I DO.

I think if we’re honest, and the older we get, the more we reflect on the times when we had more control over our circumstances. When we could get out of bed without aching. When we had more friends, more family near.

Life has a way of changing our circumstances, and sometimes it’s easy to get wrapped up in the past instead of looking forward to the future. After all, the future can be scary. We don’t know what is around the next bend.

Lot’s wife didn’t want to leave her comfortable home to live in a cave. She wanted what she knew. She didn’t like change. Do we?

THERE IS A LESSON IN HER LIFE—PROBABLY MORE THAN ONE—BUT I THINK ONE OF THE BIGGEST IS OUR DESIRE TO CLING TO WHAT WAS OR TO WHAT WE WANT RATHER THAN RELEASE OUR CONTROL, OUR PAST, OUR FUTURE, TO GOD.

The other night I woke up to a very old hymn playing in my mind. I don’t know why that hymn appeared in my thoughts, but it went something like this,

“FOR I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED, AND AM CONVINCED THAT HE IS ABLE TO KEEP THAT WHICH I’VE COMMITTED UNTO HIM AGAINST THAT DAY.”

When I can commit my life, my future to Jesus and learn to walk with Him as He guides my way, I have nothing to fear. Even if it means leaving the comfort of my home and fleeing to escape a bad situation. Even if it means living in a cave…I wouldn’t care to try that…but even then. My God isn’t going to lead me anywhere where He won’t go with me. Lot’s wife didn’t think of that. She only thought of what she was leaving behind.

But maybe what is past is exactly where it needs to stay because Jesus would lead us forward, not backward. We are called to reach for the goal of knowing Him. Because to know Him is the only way to have a relationship with Him.

May we release our hold on what is no longer in our grasp and cling to the One who holds us in His Almighty hand.

~Selah

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