Genesis 19: 17, 26

As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19: 17, 26

Sometimes, major changes in our lives come without warning and without our willing participation. The results can leave us feeling shell-shocked and unclear as to what we’re supposed to be doing next.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Lot’s wife this week. When the angels of the Lord commanded Lot and his family to leave Sodom and flee for Zoar, they gave the strict instructions not to look back. They didn’t say “don’t look back or God will turn you into a pillar of salt.”

They simply said “Don’t look back!”

How often in our lives do we waste time looking back? Thinking on the destruction or devastation that’s just been foisted on us or is soon to come, and unwilling to let go and run? We can become our own worst enemies.

As Lot and his family fled to Zoar, they were promised safe passage. The Lord was with them. No harm would come to them. All they had to do was trust and obey.

“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” Or so goes the chorus to John H. Sammis’ classic hymn “Trust and Obey.”

We all will face times of trial in our lives. Something precious to us will be removed from our lives. It could be a loved one, a job, our health, our home, our happiness, another rejection. The specific loss doesn’t really matter. It’s sure to come.

It’s what we do in the face of that loss that matters. Lot’s wife lacked obedience. That lack of obedience, I think, is a reflection of how deeply she trusted the Lord in comparison to how tightly she held on to what was being lost, her home, her neighborhood, her friends, her familiar surroundings.

As writers, we incorporate our life experiences and our vivid imaginations into the words we weave. When God directs our words, our stories, poems and books take on a life of their own. The satisfaction we experience when a piece is completed and it “feels right” is huge!
But it’s quickly followed by the angst we go through as we send that work out into the world, wondering how it will be received. I’ve come to realize though that it is all a part of what we do to ourselves.

If we’ve written what God has put on our hearts, and used the gifts and talents He’s given us to share His light and love with the world… If we’ve trusted and obeyed Him in our writing process, there’s no reason to fear. There’s no reason to look back.

God has charted our path. He knows the way He is taking us. So, settle in to the journey. Enjoy the experience as you do the work God has given you. Grow and learn and continue to experience new things.

And may your words be received by those who need to read them most.