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!' Genesis 19:17, NIV

 

Genesis 19 tells the story of God’s merciful deliverance of Lot and his wife from Sodom and Gomorrah – cities steeped in sin and destined for destruction. Before the city fell, they were instructed to flee, and the angel of the Lord gave one clear instruction: once they had left, they were not to look back.

 

Lot’s wife did. And in looking back, she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26)

 

God, in his kindness, had removed them from a place that would have led to their demise. Still, leaving must have been difficult. Sodom was familiar. It was the life she knew. Perhaps she looked back because what was known felt safer than what lay ahead. Perhaps it was not rebellion as much as hesitation – an ache for what once was, and uncertainty about what was to come.

 

I wonder how often we find ourselves in similar places. God, in his mercy, calls us out of situations that are not aligned with His will – places where we cannot truly flourish. Yet when the future feels unclear, our hearts are tempted to drift backward, drawn to familiarity, even when we know it was never meant to be home.

 

Lot’s wife never experienced what God still had prepared for her. Her story reminds us how costly it can be to cling to what is behind us when God is gently leading us forward.

 

Perhaps you, too, have been called out of something – something comfortable, something familiar – and now you feel unsure, exposed, or afraid. But take heart: God does not call us out only to leave us stranded. His plans for you are good, and he desires to prosper you (Jeremiah 29:11).

 

May we learn to loosen our grip on what we once knew, so that our hands are free to receive what God is offering. He walks with us, steady and faithful, promising never to leave us nor forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

 

His plans reach far beyond what we can imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) And if he has asked you to leave something behind, it is only because he sees something better ahead.

 

Don’t look back. Trust God. What he has prepared for you is good.

 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to trust you when you lead me forward. When fear or uncertainty rises, steady my heart. Create in me a longing for all that you have prepared – greater than my attachment to what lies behind. Amen.