Don’t Look Back

Scripture: Genesis 19.15-28; Hebrews 10.38-39; Luke 17.31-33


God is waiting to leave, but Abraham is not done talking. Abe’s not satisfied with the bargain for Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham’s trying to get more out before God visits disaster upon the two cities. It’s clear that what is going to happen is not a random natural disaster, but rather, a divine judgment. “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave.” (Gen. 18.20)

The plot of the destruction of these cities is intertwined with the stories of Abraham and Lot. And their stories are becoming more and more different. It’s clear that God thinks very highly of Abraham. Of Abraham God says, “I have chosen him.” I have made him my friend. God feels so close to Abe that he doesn’t want go ahead and destroy these cities without first telling Abraham about it – you could say, without first consulting Abraham. God gives Abraham an opportunity to intercede for these wicked people and Abraham tries. God had promised Abraham that he wouldn’t destroy the city if even ten good people are found there. Apparently ten was still too high a number. But Abraham’s effort is an example of how Abraham will be a blessing to many nations. Abraham is willing to argue with God. Abraham knows that God is his friend.

The trajectory of Lot’s life couldn’t be more different. Remember, Abe and Lot are family. Both came from Chaldea. Both did well and are influential members of their respective communities. Both are good men. But Lot is missing something that Abraham has. Derek Kidner describes Lot as “the righteous man without the pilgrim spirit.”

We’ve called it a lack of faith. Lot doesn’t trust God to give him a good life. Lot is always taking matters into his own hands, following his own instincts and desires.

In the movie Parenthood a father has a son who is kind of like Lot. This son is always trying to hit it big. Working a regular job, going the straight and narrow, is for suckers, he thinks. He doesn’t feel the need to take responsibility for his mistakes either. But his mistakes eventually come to take him. He has a gambling problem. He owes money he can’t possibly pay and the guys he owes are going to kill him. After being caught in the act of trying to steal his father’s car, the son confesses his dire situation. The good news is the father decides, at some cost to himself, to help his son. He offers his son a job in the family hardware business. He offers his son a future. The sad news is, the son takes the money but rejects the future. He has another can’t miss opportunity. His dad will understand. He thinks, “Just one more score and I’ll make it big this time.”

Judgment is coming to Sodom, Lot’s city. Two angels come to warn Lot to get his family out of there, “for we are about to destroy this place.” Lot listens but his family doesn’t. They think it’s a joke. Lot can’t get them moving. So the angels disguised as men literally grab hold of the family and push them outside the city. Lot and his family are told to go and “Don’t look back.”

Think about that. God gets that involved for someone who has not bothered to listen that closely. God physically removes these people from disaster.

It’s still early morning when the judgment comes. The quiet of the morning is suddenly disturbed by the thunder and roar of fire and wind. The sand and salt of that valley sweep over the city and all its inhabitants. Everyone and everything is consumed. It is a breathtaking and horrifying scene, one that Lot’s family is not meant to see. But one does. Lot’s wife looks back and is consumed, salted with the judgment fire.

It’s easy sometimes with these Old Testament stories to simplify things too much, to make the characters too clear cut. We could say, for example, that Lot was saved for his obedience and Lot’s wife was punished for her disobedience. But that’s a little too simple.

Because surely as his wife has done, Lot has been looking back, hedging his bets with God all along. God tells him to run for the hills and Lot says, “well, that’s not a bad idea but let me tell you about this little town I know of.” Already, Lot is trying to set things up the way he wants them, even get the next best thing he can to Sodom if he can.

Lot is trying to be a good person and manage sin on his own. He is divided. He wants to move forward with God but he stumbles because he’s always looking back.

How many of us look backward in our living?

Once we know Christ, we are born new creations. So how come we so often live like we used to. We look back. We focus on the things of sin, even by our trying not to sin, it’s a sort of looking back.

You can talk about your sin and psychoanalyze it all you want, but the most effective way of dealing with it is to not deal with it. Robin Williams and Mel Gibson are celebrities who happen to be alcoholics. They both were sober for many years and both recently had relapses, with ugly consequences. Williams said that he had started to drink very moderately a couple years ago. He thought he could manage it. But the addiction was still there. “It was waiting for me,” Williams said.

The Bible says that a person who goes back to their sinful ways after meeting God is like “a dog that returns to its own vomit.”

“But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and keep their souls.” Hebrews 10.38-39

“Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life (for my sake) will preserve it.” Luke 17.32-33

Saying Yes to Jesus means saying No, definitively, to some other things. You can’t walk backward into the future.

In dealing with sin, we have to be like a defensive back in football or a closer in baseball. Everybody messes up. Everybody gets beat. But you have to have a short memory. Don’t dwell on the beating. Go on to the next play. D up. Be aggressive and confident. You are right for the job.

Like Abraham, we should focus on a new life and doing good in that life. It’s the pilgrim spirit. We are not the same as we used to be. Time to start acting like it!

The epilogue to the story of Lot is not a cheery one. His family disintegrates. They end up living in a cave. And things get worse from there, trust me.

Abraham, well, he watched the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and contemplated as the smoke rose over the valley. And God called him on, as a friend, to his future.