Genesis 19:12-26 Then the men said to Lot, "...Sons-in-Law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city-- take them out of this place!"
"For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it."
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city."
And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
So it cam to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains lest you be destroyed."
.........But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Exodus 16:1-3 And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.
Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
And the children of Israel said to them, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
Today I heard a very profound statement spoken:
"For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it."
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city."
And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
So it cam to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains lest you be destroyed."
.........But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Exodus 16:1-3 And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.
Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
And the children of Israel said to them, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
Today I heard a very profound statement spoken:
"Freedom is not in looking back, but in looking forward"
Sometimes it so easy to long for the past. That is what Lot's wife did, and that is what the children of Israel were doing as well. They were looking back at what, at the time, looked like better times. Especially here lately, I find myself reminiscing and longing for the times before with my brother. I wanted those times back so so much. I was a slave to the past, instead of trusting God and looking to the future. I think we all long for something back maybe: Age, time, lost possessions, loved ones, or any number of things. We are slaves to longing for something that we will never have again. We are dissatisfied with where we are right now. But God says that he has us here for a reason.
Deuteronomy 8:2-3 "And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
"So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone.
God has set us free of that bondage of longing for the "happy" past, and has given us hope that he is doing something great Right Now! and it will affect your future. I don't want to long for the past. I want to long for the awesome future God has planned for me as he continues to refine me to his image.
John 8:36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, You shall be free indeed."
