Remember Lot’s wife.
Luke 17:32 (ESV)
Lord, this says something to my heart regarding holding on to the past. Lot’s wife looked back. For what, the text is not clear. Maybe out of curiosity. Maybe out of longing. Maybe out of remembrance. But for whatever reason, she looked back and it was her ultimate demise.
How much do I look back? How much do I not press forward? How much do I want to relive what I have gone through? Oh, that You would change my heart! Help me not to long for the things of the past but instead to press on, forward, towards the future I have in You!
I so often look at what is behind me with rose colored glasses. Forgotten to me is the pain and heartache. A distant memory is the struggle and disappointment. Instead, I only remember the “happy feelings” that bounce around in my head, oblivious to the overwhelming heartache that I had to endure in the midst of it. Have mercy!
Today, Lord, I follow the guidance of the Apostle Paul: “…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14) Lord, I set my sights on YOU, running the race that is before me (Hebrews 12:1-2). What happened in the past is in the past. Today I choose to forget about all of it and look to the new thing that You are bringing to pass in my life (Isaiah 43:18-19). Thank You for my new lot in life! Amen!