3.056 Don't Look Back

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as savory salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose you this day whom you will serve.

We've got a part two today, so if you missed part one, you may want to go back to yesterday and catch the first part of it. But our part two begins in the second half of Genesis chapter 19. We're reading this week Genesis chapters 18 through 23.

And in Genesis chapter 19, we got a lot of things happening, primarily the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as the Lord wipes those cities off of the face of the earth due to their wickedness. We talked yesterday about the mercy that the Lord showed to Lot and his family. And then we get part two of that as it comes in Genesis 19, verse 26.

Before we get to verse 26, I got to tell you, this is one of those for me that is burned in my brain from seminary days. So, we talking, you know, 30 years ago, I sitting in a seminary class, and I can remember this lesson. I can remember my teacher.

I can remember how much it impacted me, and in the moment, what it was for me. Like when the counsel to remember Lot's wife came across to me, I can remember Lot's wife. But, interestingly enough, this time I saw it through a different lens, and I think it's because of the talk that I've linked inside of here.

We're going to take a look at a section of it from Elder Packer because it certainly helped kind of shift my understanding of this verse a little bit. Our verse for today, Genesis 19, verse 26, as I said, says this: 'But his wife'—this is Lot's wife. They've been taken out of the city of Sodom.

They are out of it. They are in safety, right? And it says, 'but his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt.' And you might read that and go, 'Wow, that's, that's pretty harsh, right?' That's like, 'Oh my goodness.' Now, Lot and his family had been counseled: 'Do not look back towards the destruction.' 'Go forward.' In fact, they're even told to go into the mountains.

We know the symbolic nature of mountains when it comes to the scriptures. And we're trying to be better, but we're also trying to drag a little bit of Babylon with us as we go. Maybe just keep a little bit here, a little bit there.

The consequences for Lot's wife as she turned back to see Sodom was turning into that pillar of salt. The shift for me came inside of this incredible talk by Elder Packer called "Cleansing the Inner Vessel." He's talking about repentance. So this one's a little bit different lens.

He says this inside of the talk: 'President Joseph Fielding Smith told me of a repentant woman struggling to find her way out of a very immoral life. She asked him what she should do now. In turn, he asked her to read to him from the Old Testament the account of Lot's wife, who was turned to a pillar of salt.

Then he asked her, "What lesson do you gain from those verses?"' 'Delete from the mind any unworthy thought that tries to take root. Once you have decided to remain clean, you are asserting your God-given agency.' 'And then, as President Smith counseled, "Don't look back."' My friends, if you have those pet sins, if you have those sins that seem to continually lag in your life and follow you around, I'd encourage you to take the counsel here that we have from Lot's wife. 'Don't look back.' Choose to have it out of your life and never go back again. That is a powerful thought that we can keep with us.

It's one I've had since seminary days and one I continue to try to bring into my life as I continue to find forgiveness from my own sins. That's our part two, and that's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.