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 valley, 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 19:24-26 (ESV)
When we think of disobedience in our own life, do we see what it turns us into? Or do we see it as something that we tolerate in our Christian walk? How many times do we turn from the wisdom of God unto another path that looks more desirable? Much like Lot’s wife who looked back to sin affectionately and long for its return. Think about the one sin you allow in your life that you wish were not there. The one that plagues your existence and that you return to often. The one you desire to rid yourself of and to no longer associate with. We all have one, it may be different from person to person but its there, waiting for us, in the dark. We may not admit it to others but if it where not so then why do we allow it to pull us back so often. Our desires have two ways to be pulled, we will have an affection for God or we have affection for sin. While the Spirit desires to serve the Living God, the flesh desires to serve the throne of sin. The question is which one will we call Lord. Let’s take a deeper look at our entangled dance with sin.
It is very interesting when we think about Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt when we see how salt was viewed by eastern cultures of that day. It seems she was turned into a product that had the qualities that she lacked in her own character. Salt was used to purify, to sustain and as an antiseptic in ancient times. As we look back at Lot’s wife we see a woman whose heart was not pure because when she looked back, she did it longingly a desire for the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. When we see Sodom and Gomorrah we see the sin of sexual immorality, one that scripture calls us to flee from. But when it comes to that sin, how many times do we flee, and when we do are we just as guilty as Lot’s wife, looking back affectionately? As with her is also true with us, she needed to rely on God to sustain her through her temptation of looking back, and to cleanse her heart as an antiseptic cleanses the mouth; and to keep her pure from future temptations that she might struggle with. She most likely lived as one that was double-minded, desiring to move past the problems of life but not enough to change. She walked forward to a new life but looked back longingly to her old way of life. As we read in James 1:8: (ESV) “he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” If we live as she did we will also be unstable in all we do, never getting past what desires to destroy us the most. We can look at her example and look at our own lives and see how we are in the same position as her. Ask yourself, where do you look back and long for sins return? Maybe you don’t look back at all but look forward to it. Are we still drawn away by its allurement and deceitfulness? Do you still listen to its promises of abundance with little returns of pleasure? I think we are all guilty of this in our lives. We need to be honest with God and ourselves to what extent we are drawn into sin and see how it really affects our relationship with God.
Another quality that salt was seen as in ancient times was that it was an emblem of fidelity. We see how Lot’s wife was not faithful totally to God’s call. She went with her husband but her heart was still in Sodom and Gomorrah. I believe she looked back to what she desired the most. She was still longing for her old home even if it would mean destruction. Like us, she was one whose heart wanted two different things at the same time. But one of them has a high price to pay. What in your life will you give up for everything? What will you allow to destroy part of your life? Will it be sin to alienate your relationship to God? Or will it be a relationship to Christ to destroy your longing for sin? Only you can answer that question.
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