Don't Look Back

“Don’t Look Back”

As we come to the end of another year and get ready to celebrate a new one, let me ask you this, “Do you look back or look forward?”

After seeing the title of my message you are probably thinking looking forward. I’m sure not going to say looking back if he is going to preach against it.

But in all reality it is much easier to look back than it is too look forward because the saying that hindsight is 20/20 is true.

It is much easier too look back at what we have done, or not done, and see where we should have done something different.

Illustration: Wishing we had invested in Microsoft.

We can get advice but we don’t like to be taught.

Teaching is a great thing but most of the time it doesn’t work because it is our human nature to find it out for ourselves.

I read a true statement the other day that said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Our parents have told us, and told us, and told us, but often, we didn’t listen.

We had to learn by our own mistakes.

So as we look back it is easy to ask ourselves, why didn’t I?

But as we all know we can’t change the past so this week as we get ready for a new year I encourage you to look ahead, don’t look back.

I say that in a very positive way because many places in God’s Word we are instructed to move forward and that is hard if we have our head turned backwards.

Probably the most familiar story in the Bible concerning looking back is the story of Lot’s wife.

Genesis 19:15-26

Now the people who lived in the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah had become so evil that God was not going to allow it to go on any longer.

But God found favor in Lot & his family and sent two angels to warn them to get out of the city before it was destroyed.

Now notice in verse 14 when Lot told his future son-in-laws they thought it was a joke.

Sort of like the thinking of the world today isn’t it?

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People want to believe in evolution instead of creation.

People don’t want to believe that Christ will return.

Most believe that God is such a loving God he would never send someone to Hell.

And then there are those who think Hell will be fine because most of their friends will be there.

These are issues that people laugh at today because like Lot’s son-in-laws, they believe it is all a big joke.

But we must never forget that God never breaks a promise good or bad.

Adam & Eve, plaques of Egypt, and the great flood are just a few of the promises of God.

And He kept everyone of them just as we see in this story.

He has the angels to instruct them flee for your lives, don’t look back, and don’t stop.

But look what happens! Now I know that curiosity dwells in all of us.

Illustration: Wreck on the highway everyone slows to look.

It seems that it is human nature to watch a disaster, now I’m not saying that we don’t feel bad for those involved but we still want to watch.

Now given this I am quite sure that Lot’s wife felt this curiosity but I am inclined to believe that it was more.

Now ladies we l love you and we cannot live without you but let’s face facts here, most of the time you are going to do what you want to do.

I have often said, “I can tell my wife from a mile away but I get her up close and I can’t tell her anything.”

Men may be more curious but women want proof.

And Lot’s wife was no different. If in her heart she would have believed that nothing would actually happen to her she would have never looked back.

But she did and her life was ended because she went against God’s instructions.

They were simple instructions nothing complicated, “Don’t look back.”

With that in mind how can we not do what God commands us to do today?

God demand that we put Him first but what do we do?

God instructs us to not make idols but what do we do?

God says don’t lie but what do we do? God tells us to not to covet but what do we do?

We have all the instructions yet we continue to ignore them.

We do what we have to in order to get by and we forget the consequences.

These are promises that God will keep!