Femme Fridays--Lot's Wife

This is a new segment for the blog for the month of March since it is women's month. Each Friday a different woman from the Bible. There will also be other women honored via the Instagram (@youngsavedandfree). Be sure to follow. 

This week we will be focusing on Lot's wife. The story presents itself in Genesis 19. 

Genesis 19:10-26 King James Version (KJV)

10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.

11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.

14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:

19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.

22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;

25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

The reason I chose this particular woman even though she goes nameless for the entirety of the story is because she represents so many of us in our walk with God or just life in general. See, all Lot's wife knew was Sodom. So when Lot came to her and said we have to leave now if she wanted to live, she wasn't trying to hear that. She was like "I don't know nothing about Zoar, but I guess I'll go with you." That says a lot about her as a wife. She doesn't understand what is going on and why her husband was coming to her pretty much panicking, but she still submitted. She trusts her husband with her life. She may not understand why he is saying the things he's saying, but she trusts him and she submits to him. 

The reason I said this represents a lot of us on our journey with Christ is because for a lot of us things happen in life where we are presented with loss, and it makes it very hard to move on. But those things happen for a reason. Sometimes we get so complacent with where we are that we are not willing to let it go. Sometimes things are removed from us and we do not let it go mentally. Sometimes we move to a better place but we keep looking back. This past week I made a post on Instagram, I believe it was Thursday or Friday, but the quote stated "You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one." God moved Lot and his family from Sodom to Zoar, but his wife wasn't willing to let Sodom go. So she turned into a pilar of salt. 

Let's stop right there. Of all things, she turned into a pilar of salt. Have you ever looked back at a situation and it makes you re-live it? A couple years ago I was diagnosed with PCOS and when I think about it, 1 of 2 things happen Either I (1) get excited because God healed me. It wasn't the medication (mostly because I didn't take the medication). It was God. or (2) I become very angry thinking about how people treated me during that time. I become very salty about what happened. I forget that God healed me and took me from that place and I'll keep looking back. I know I can't be the only person who struggles with this, but we have to move on. We are not in that place anymore. Sometimes I look at myself when I'm feeling that way and I'll be like "on a scale of a pretzel and the Pacific Ocean, how salty are you really?"  

We really cannot keep harboring those hard feelings of what is former. You are not in that place anymore, and it's time to move on. It will literally kill you to keep those feelings.

It feels so good to make it this far
And I didn't think I could take it so long
There were days I wanted to quit
I said surely this is it
But I held on
And I watched as so called friends turn and walk away
It hurt so much I didn't have words to say
But even when my day turns to night and nothing seems just right
Lord I thank you for, for my life
--Smokie Norful