As soon as the angels got them outside, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop anywhere on the plain! Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”  Genesis 19:17 HCSB

If you have read through Genesis, you may recall that Lot was Abraham’s nephew. They had left their homeland and found a large piece of land. Abraham had offered Lot his pick of the land and Lot chose the prettiest land that was well watered and lush and green. It looked good. The problem was the cities Sodom and Gomorrah were there and Lot wound up in Sodom. The grass looked greener, but we all know how that goes.

Now the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were filled with evil people who were sinning greatly against the LORD (Genesis 13:13). God decided to destroy these cities and sent angels into Sodom to warn Lot and his family to run from there. In verse 17, the angel tells them to run away and don’t look back. In verse 25, Lot’s wife failed to heed the angel’s warning. She looked back at Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt.

In these days we are surrounded by evil. It’s everywhere you look. People do horrible things to other people. Simply put God instructs us to love Him and to love others and many people just can’t seem to do that. If you read the entire chapter of Genesis 19, it is sickening to read about the evil behavior of the people in that city. But still we read in verse 16 that Lot hesitated to leave, but the angels grabbed the hands of him, his wife, and his daughters and brought them outside the city.

Lot lived in a city that was so evil, guests were not safe in his home. Why would he hesitate to leave? I will answer that with a question. Why are we hesitant to leave our sinful lives? Our sin drags us down, holds us in bondage, yet still we attempt to hold on to it.

It’s scary to think about making drastic changes in our lives. My sin was wearing me down, but I had grown comfortable with it. I figured God would just overlook it because I had all kinds of reasons why giving my sin up just wouldn’t work. But, when I finally cried out to God to help me rid my life of my deliberate sin He did just that. Just as the angels helped Lot and his family to get out of Sodom safely, God helped me get rid of my sin. He made my crooked path straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

I had spent years turning to God and looking back. I had been wandering around in that desert for so long, but when I asked God to help me get to the Promised Land that is just what He did. He will do it for you too, but you must remember not to look back.

There is evil all around us, but we must trust God. We must turn to Him. We must turn away from evil. Proverbs 3:7 tells us to fear the LORD and turn away from evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 tells us to avoid even the appearance of evil.

Now many of us will turn back to those that are evil in an effort to help them. We will want to share God’s word with them and we will think that we can control the situation. Don’t kid yourself, my friend. Only God wins over evil. Pray for those that are evil, but stay away and leave it to God. Don’t think you are smarter enough or strong enough to deal with them on your own. And above all have sense enough to know when God is releasing you from them.

A couple years ago, I had been trying to lead an evil person to the LORD. I didn’t want to accept that this person was beyond help. I shared scripture. I urged this person to get into church. I tried. But for all my trying, this person responded with even more evil behavior. Then one day, I realized that God had released me. Now for us fixers that is sometimes hard to accept. I was relieved at first. But then there were times I felt myself wanting to check on this person or help this person, but God made it very clear that I was not to look back.

Is God telling you not to look back on something today? Is he warning you to stay away from something that is evil. My friend, I beg of you to heed His warning. If you don’t, He just may give you over to this evil (Romans 1:24) and then it will be too late.

Trust in God today, turn away from evil and don’t look back.

Have a great day!