Lessons from Lot’s Wife

Based on Genesis 19.

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

The Bible doesn’t mention the name of Lot’s wife, but it teaches us lessons through her experience. Let’s take a look:

Our environment influences us

Lot and his family lived in an evil society. God’s heart was saddened to see His masterpiece, which He had created with so much love, surrender to the influence of Satan. The people no longer listened to His voice, and little by little, they gave themselves up to vile passions.

Lot’s family was influenced by the sins of these cities (Sodom and Gomorrah), and when God commanded them to leave their homes, the angels had to grab them by the hand and drag them out of the city. Despite the angels warning them that the city would be destroyed, they wanted to stay where they were (Genesis 19:15-16).

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Matthew 6:21

Lot’s wife was materialistic—she had no desire to leave her home and her belongings. Her heart belonged to Sodom. When God’s angels removed Lot and his family from the city, they cautioned them not to look back, for whoever did so would surely die. In an act of defiance, Lot’s wife turned around. Still, it wasn’t the look back alone that provoked God’s judgment. It was what was in her heart.

Lot’s wife left Sodom, but Sodom didn’t leave her heart. She murmured against having to leave her past life behind and rebelled against God’s command to flee. God gave her the opportunity for salvation, but she spurned it. He took her by the hand, delivering her from perdition, but her heart was fastened to the things of this world. Through her attachment to those things, she ended up losing everything, even her life. Once she looked back, she turned into a pillar of salt.

An appeal to leave Sodom

Despite being a sad story, we can learn from it. God invites us to leave Sodom behind, Sodom being the things that displease Him and do us no good. Sometimes we cling so strongly to material things that we forget there is a heaven to reach. God knows that things here are fleeting, and He wants us to focus on eternal things.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18

Lay your treasures at the feet of Jesus, and He will help you flee the “city” that has you in its hold. He has something much better for you (I Corinthians 2:9). Our home isn’t here; we’re just passing through, so “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

Don’t look back

Dear reader, don’t miss out on what God has in store for you. He has sent His Holy Spirit to call you, but if you turn back, you may be lost with Lot’s wife. “Don’t look back!” It is up to you to decide whether to obey or not.

Fix your eyes on that which God offers, for when the things of this Earth pass away, we will only be left with the path we have chosen. I hope we choose heaven.

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

Matthew 16:26