It’s Just Too Much Salt

It’s 2067 B.C. and Sodom & Gomorrah were just destroyed. Prior to the destruction, a command from God was brought to you by an angel, where you are told to not turn back toward the destruction. As you reluctantly flee, your daughters blindly follow. Your wife though, in a moment of agony for what’s happening, for the friends and relatives you all are losing, for those that could have been saved, turns back once to look at it — she becomes a pillar of salt. Because you would turn to salt too if you turned back to look for her, you have no choice but to keep moving forward. You have no choice but to abandon the lifeless form, now left to be washed away by the rains when they come. The life that was there — vanquished in an instant. 

Why though — why such a severe consequence for a seemingly harmless action? It was just a farewell glance, a final recollection of the reality happening in their lives, their home and everything they knew, gone. The reason lies in the nature of a relationship with God — He commanded them, by means of a warning from an angel, and she failed to follow the command.

But here’s the key question to consider — did she know the command? The command was given to Lot — did he make it clear with his wife and their daughters? Scripture does not say. As the story unfolds, Lot allows himself to get drunk around his daughters…and impregnates them. What we know of the story of Adam & Eve, and even in looking at Christ as the “second Adam” — Adam failed to protect Eve from the serpent. When you look at the full story of Lot, where his wife and daughters were not protected, where they followed blindly to the point of justifying drunken incest — the picture is painting itself. Before this, Lot had offered up his daughters to be taken advantage of to evil men who had come to his door seeking to defile other men at his residence. Before this, Lot had lingered, failing to follow God’s command. Before this, when Lot and Abram separated, Lot focused on what looked the best, more-over what was safe, when it came to choosing land to reside in. 

So what you have then, is a man focused more on looks and material things, than he is focused on quality of life. What you have then is a man reliant on “being saved”, reliant on bargains and trades to survive. What you have then is a man operating so far in survival mode, he’s lost inability to look 5 steps ahead in order to protect himself, his wife and his daughters. You have a man living life always trying to “escape”. And while he’s probably not cognizant that this isn’t God’s will for his life, it leaves us with another important question — what happened to Lot? 

What we know is he lost his father at an adolescent age. His uncle, Abram became a father figure to him from then on. We don’t have any details other than this — but that’s probably all we need to know to comprehend the truth and lessons in the story of Sodom & Gomorrah, and the life of Lot. 

For this post though, I’m not focused on Lot or his wife, but on the concept of “going back” for oneself, in “looking back” — because in this story, doing so results in a major consequence for Lot. While this is a presumption, most of the meaning behind stories are left up to our interpretation to understand the truth behind them. Based on how Lot lived, which was pretty fearful, avoidant and defensive, it’s likely that he could never stop looking at the trauma from his past, where trauma is a portal to evil. Here’s  what Proverbs 4:15 has to say about that, “Avoid it; do not go on its path (the way of evil).” So you might be wondering then, “then how do I move past my own trauma, if looking at it is considered evil?” Here’s the secret sauce about it: your intent on what will/will not rule your life. If looking at your trauma requires you to open things up and face your demons, but your intent is to destroy them and overcome the evil that haunts you, there is no conflict with this proverb. It’s about awareness. Looking at Lot, he knew what he had been through but refused to do the work around processing it. In that, avoiding it at all costs became a lifestyle — a lifestyle of being on the run. Because Lot refused to do the work, his wife quite literally took the hit for it — she looked back when the command was to move forward — that tragedy, could have been avoided had Lot of done his internal work. 

Speaking from experience, God understands our psychology — he designed our minds, he knows how the subconscious works. That’s why “remember” comes up 352 times in the Bible… know your truth, know yourself, and keep moving. If a blindspot is keeping you from the love of God — refraining from doing the work around it is avoidance of God in your life. When it comes to my own journey, I know God placed me everywhere I needed to be, and planted Easter eggs along the way for me to recognize and remember my trauma; to remember who I was. He wants you to know who you are — it’s why He extended so much grace to Lot, time and time again. But why then, did Lot’s wife and daughter’s bear the weight of his lack of responsibility? So he could finally see God’s grace — and it’s also just nature of things. If he looked back at his trauma one more time, it was going to take his life. Lot might’ve had a blindspot, we’re not sure about that, but the obvious was there, he lost his dad at a young age and seems he could never move past it. My opinion? He didn’t care enough to do the work. Don’t let it be you. 

Know your truth and move on. 

-B