You may or may not know the story of Lot’s wife from the book Genesis. I’m thinking about it this morning. There was this town, this place where people lived and apparently they had become careless and thoughtless in the way they lived. Hospitality was an important part of being community then (something that should be timeless!). And, apparently this community had become hardened to that practice and were brazen in their dehumanizing of others.

In the story two men, who just happened to be angels, were sent to rescue a family from this town before it would be consumed in all its evilness.

So, the story goes that when the wild people from the town heard about the two men they came to the family’s house and demanded that the men be sent out so that they could “know” them, which means in this instance so they could rape them. 

The owner of the house went out and offered his virgin daughters instead. Yeah, I know that gets me riled up every time. I don’t think it is supposed to be a stumbling block for the story but it surely is for me. I guess that is the extreme version of protecting your guests at all cost!

Thankfully the angels intervene and the daughters are spared. The angels escort the family, Lot, his wife, and their two engaged daughters out of town in a hurry as the fires are beginning. The soon to be son in laws apparently thought it was all a joke so they didn’t come with. I bet they were soon sorry!

Anyway, the angels lead them out of town and tell them to hurry up and to definitely not look back or they would be consumed by the fire. There was no time to gather up possessions or say goodby to anyone. They were leaving what they knew as a place where they had made a home and entering into a time of uncertainty and the unknown. 

Lot whined a bit and was given permission to go a different way than he was first instructed. 

Lot’s wife, on the other hand, stopped and turned around and looked back. And just like that, as the story tells us, she was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters would get away and live to see another day.

Throughout the years Lot’s wife has been lifted up as an example of disobedience and its consequences. She’s been a source of shame. And caution. Even, Jesus, warned his disciples to remember her when he was preparing them for the uncertainty and changes they would face. He didn’t want them to get stuck in the past and miss their future purpose.

I can’t help but feel compassion for Lot’s wife. I mean the poor thing isn’t even given a name!  I can’t imagine what her life had been like. She had been moved around with no say, just following her husband from place to place. And, she had just witnessed her daughters being offered up to be raped, all while she cooked and served the strangers in her house. 

And now she was being abruptly uprooted and watching everything she knew being destroyed. Had she made friends in this town? Where there people she cared about that would soon be burned to death? Was she grieving the life she thought her daughters would have that was instantly erased? Were there things about her life up to the point that she regretted and now wondered if she could ever amend?  Was she measuring what was being lost and wondering what could possibly be next?

It seems that the terror of the moment was paralyzing to Lot’s wife. And, honestly, who wouldn’t feel that? And, who hasn’t felt that before in times of abrupt upheaval?  

I feel the “punishment” was a little harsh, don’t you?

And, yet, as I further consider I can see where this story has so much to teach us. Teach me. 

Right now, in the world, there is so much chaos and confusion. And destruction of norms, things, ways that I thought would always be in place. The unilaterally decided destruction of the East Wing of the White House is a visual for so many other things that are being destroyed. There are times when, after reading or seeing or hearing the latest news story that I too feel paralyzed, longing for a time before this. Before so many things I thought were important were destroyed. And what is being revealed is that accountability is being denied and lawlessness is being glorified. It’s like we have become careless with one another. And, we see in this story what happens when we do.

I have felt paralyzed and stuck, unable to imagine the path forward. 

That makes me think of Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt. Which makes me think of Jesus telling us we should be salt in the world. Vessels of love that empower and bring blessing to others the way salt brings out the flavor in a dish. So, I see that by being paralyzed in her regret, fear, longing for the past that Lot’s wife lost her ability to see within herself the power to move forward. As I heard someone say recently if we get stuck in the past we block our imagination for a future. So, there she was, a pillar of frozen potential!  

I’ve realized I need to look for the buds of hope, the places I see evidence of love rising in the world. I don’t want to get stuck longing for the past. I really think that, being stuck wishing for a past (that is always romanticized in our memory) is what keeps us from living in the present and hoping for the future. 

I also realize that for many of us, sometimes, the reason we get stuck in the past is because we haven’t actually taken the time to give gratitude for it, repent of it, grieve it. We are not machines, we are humans. And it is important to consider our lives, take stock, process. Then and only then can we even imagine a way forward, much less move into it. I think there are things in our country that we are experiencing today because we’ve never really and honestly dealt with our past, but words on that will be for another post maybe!

Maybe Lot’s wife just needed a minute…

May today be a day of hope for you.

Something to chew on.