Faith Over Chaos

Lot’s wife doesn’t have a name. Well, I’m sure she does, but apparently the Bible decided, “Nope, we’re not doing introductions today.” Her entire lesson is short and blunt. It’s one sentence. And it’s not even a “here’s what not to do” verse — it’s more like the Bible pointing at her and saying, “Look. This is what she did. Don’t be like this.”

But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:26 (NIV)

For those of you unfamiliar with her story, here’s the quick version: God sent an angel to warn Lot to take his family and run because destruction was coming to the town they lived in. Before they left, the angel gave them one very simple instruction — the kind of instruction even I should be able to follow before coffee.

“Flee for your lives! Don’t look back…”

Genesis 19:17

And then Jesus — because He is the King of the Mic‑Drop — brings this same one‑liner into His own teaching with His own one‑liner.

“Remember Lot’s wife!”

Luke 17:32 (NIV)

Jesus was talking about His return and the coming of the Kingdom of God, and this isn’t the only time He told us not to look back.

“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:62

So why do I say that I am Lot’s wife?

Because I’ve done this. I have looked back at the things God delivered me from — and not just glanced. Oh no. I’ve marched right back in there wearing my Prodigal Hat like a crown, acting like I’m the grand marshal of the “Bad Decisions Parade.”

But let’s clean this up so we don’t all slide into condemnation while reading these lines. Looking back to tell a dear friend, “I hear you, I’ve been there,” is very different from looking back with nostalgia, longing, or the spiritual equivalent of scrolling your ex’s Instagram.

God, knowing this would be a problem for some of us (hi, it’s me), added John and Paul to reinforce the lesson.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world…”

1 John 2:15 (NIV)

And then Paul, who never sugarcoated anything a day in his life, gives us this:

“…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”

Philippians 3:13 (NIV)

There is a kind of “looking back” that’s actually holy. It’s when you reach behind you to grab the hand of someone who’s still stuck where you used to be and say, “Come on, friend — I know the way out because He brought me out.” That’s testimony. That’s rescue work. But then there’s the other kind — the Lot’s‑wife kind — where you look back with longing, nostalgia, or the quiet hope that maybe your old life wasn’t that bad. That’s not ministry; that’s spiritual rubbernecking. One pulls someone forward into freedom. The other pulls you backward into bondage.

So if you feel that tug to look back — that little nostalgic itch for the thing God already buried — step into your garden with the One who knows how to handle your memory better than you do. Let Him walk you back to the right kind of remembrance: remembering His death that broke the power of that old life, remembering His resurrection that proved that thing you miss is actually defeated, and remembering that you are already free. He handed you that freedom Himself. So if we’re going to remember anything, let’s remember that — at all times, in all seasons, especially when the past starts looking shinier than it ever actually was.

Helping you find peace in the garden again— because freedom lives in the soil ahead, not the shadows behind.