Sometimes our hearts ache for the past more than they yearn for the future. It’s remarkable to realize that even people in Biblical times grappled with this very human struggle. Let’s delve into the very first book of the Bible and explore this timeless sentiment.
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered, so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.” And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” He said to him, “Very well, I grant you this favor too and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
-Genesis 19:15-26
Observations
- Lot and his family received a clear warning that something terrible was about to happen (cue the RED FLAGS)!
- Lot remained steadfast in the place he KNEW was destined for destruction.
- Angels had to literally pull him away.
- He was warned passionately not to look back, lest he face the same doomed fate as those before him.
- He passionately attempted to bargain his way out of venturing so far from his previous abode…his previous mannerisms…previous acquaintances he used to associate with…previous routines…
- Complacentcy leads to destruction!
- The city Lot ended up in after dragging his feet was named Zoar, which means “insignificance” in Hebrew. He chose to go only a short distance from the destruction, but it wasn’t far enough! Tragically, his wife paid the price for his hesitation.
- And then, his wife looked back, and in that moment she was transformed into a pillar of salt! This serves as a powerful illustration of the consequences of disobeying God’s commands. Imagine what could have been if Lot and his family had wholeheartedly followed God’s instructions, fleeing as far as they could instead of just a little.
We often get so nostalgice for the “old ways” that it can make up slip up!
Sometimes, in our deepest moments of longing and desperation, we even attempt to negotiate with the Divine. This practice has a rich history, extending back to the time of Abraham, a testament to the enduring nature of this human impulse.
Then the men set out from there, and they looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me, and if not, I will know.”
So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to my lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to my lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
-Genesis 18:16-33
This is a generational pattern of negotiating with God. Lot did it just as his uncle did. We must remember that even if our elders dealt with red flags the same way doesn’t mean you should. Head the warning! Listen to the red flags! That includes setting boundaries. However, that also means that your boundaries will be tested. Just one book over, the Bible shows how God’s chosen people had to keep going even though they longed for bondage. He gave them a boundary of freedom and they were going to be tested.
The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim and came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
-Exodus 16:1-4
Observations
- They found themselves in a land of wilderness, a desert of despair, after breaking free from the familiar confines, even if those confines were steeped in oppression.
- They passionately voiced their grievances to those who had led them out of slavery, declaring, “If only we had died… in the land of Egypt.” They fervently longed for what they once had and overlooked the blessings of their present freedom. They failed to acknowledge the incredible liberation from their past!
- They gazed back with fiery determination, destined to face a rigorous test, a true trial of their spirit!
This longing for the past, even when it was harmful, isn’t just a concern for people in the Old Testament. It also occurred in the New Testament.
Take the book of Galatians, for instance! Galatians was written because the churches of that region were facing a dire theological crisis. The essential truth of justification by faith, rather than by human works, was being vehemently denied by legalists. These individuals, insisting that Christians must keep the Mosaic Law, particularly pushed for circumcision as a requirement for Gentiles to be saved. In essence, their message was clear: first, convert to Judaism, and then, you may become a Christian. When Paul learned that this heresy was being taught to the Galatian churches, he passionately composed an epistle to emphasize our liberty in Christ and to ardently counter the perversion of the gospel that the legalists shamelessly promoted.
If we insist on living by a checklist and the old law or old covenant, we are essentially declaring that Jesus died in vain!
In conclusion, it’s time to break down the barrier to Christ once and for all! Let’s refuse to dwell on the past that Jesus has already liberated us from. Whether it’s addictions, toxic people, or anything else holding us back, we must wholeheartedly embrace the path that God has laid out for us. Amen!