Remember Lot's Wife

By George Feldman

Luke 17:22

She looked back. Rather a simple thing, was it not? But it had a result. She became a pillar of salt.

Why did she look back? Probably she had daughters there and even grandchildren. Is it not natural to have affection for one's own family? But what had God said? Not to look back. Judgment was at hand and there could be no delay. They must leave quickly.

And in the context with our text is a picture of the setting up of the image in the holy place and the beginning of the great tribulation. And just as soon as that image is put up, those who belong to God can know that there is no time to waste. They must make haste to escape, if it be at all possible.

But back to Let's wife. Was not this a little harsh for her, seeing that she loved her family? When God says something, it is not ours to delay, question, or try to excuse. He demands obedience. And obedience will always have its reward. How different her action from that of Abraham when he was told to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah!

No doubt Lot and his family had put their affections on things that were temporal, things that could bum up in the fire that came down from heaven. Of course we must remember that Lot did not have any part in the promise made to Abraham. Lot was not obligated to live in tents waiting for a promise. That he should live a house cannot be counted against him.

But what Lot did that was wrong, was that he got into the wrong neighborhood to settle down and raise a family. The people of Sodom were Canaanites, the seed of the evil one. They were not fit company for righteous Lot and his family. And because he got into the wrong crowd almost cost Lot his life. He did lose his wife and some of his family, escaping with two daughters. And his subsequent conduct showed what a terrible influence Sodom had been in his brief stay there.

True discipleship involves loving Christ more than possessions and family. It calls for one to seek first the will of God and do it, not to follow his own wishes and plans. And once he has started out to do this, there is no looking back; no wishing for the slave fare of Egypt. To walk in newness of life means to leave all the old things behind and forget them.