COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 52 - LEARNING TO LET IT GO

    

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Genesis 19: 24-26:  Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire  from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the  inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.  But his wife looked back from  behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

So what kind of woman would marry a man like Lot? 

Lot liked the finer things of life, the ease and comfort of city dwelling.  Lot liked to feel important, and he enjoyed being in the company of important people.  He had acquired many material possessions and wealth while living with Abraham, so much cattle and livestock that he had to move away from Abraham to take care of them.  Probably when he moved away he put others in charge of the livestock that brought him his wealth and he decided to dwell more often in the city, to wear clean clothes and live in a house with walls and all the creature comforts of servants and nearby conveniences.  He probably entertained the well known people and aspired to be a politician instead of a herdsman.  He had achieved this goal for a moment in time, and he had moved into the city and the high life that he loved living.  Lot was ambitious and materialistic, yet lazy and wasteful at the same time.  These four characteristics do not usually go together, but in Lot's case they existed.  

Most likely, his wife was just the same way.  She may have acquired wealth for a dowry from her family.  It is very possible that Lot might have been looking for someone who would add to his assets and not take away from them.  She probably did not like getting her hands dirty or her hair messed up, and had probably always enjoyed the luxury of servants so that she did not need to.  She probably enjoyed fine meals prepared by others.  She was probably a woman who knew and understood the personalities of those who were considered of importance by the residents in the area, and she probably was always scheming to put all the right people in all the right places together at all the right times in order to gain both financially and to become more prominent in the area where she lived.  This is all mere speculation though; we do not really know what Lot’s wife was like, but it is just the picture that comes to mind after studying the personality of Lot.

Whatever she was like, she did not want to give up her life in Sodom.  Despite the angel's stern warning not to look back she did so any way.

Why did she look back?  

Was it a love for her children that she would be leaving behind?  Was it the memories she had made in her home there?  Was it fear of leaving all the material things behind and starting out with nothing at all in a strange place?  Did she doubt her husband’s capabilities to take care of her in a new place?  Did she not know God enough to trust Him to bring her to a better life?  Did she know God at all? 

SOMETHING made Lot’s wife look back.  We all have a "something."  What is your “something?”  We all usually know something that if presented correctly in a timely manner by the enemy will cause us to stumble and fall and even turn into a pillar of salt. 

With Lot's wife it seems that what she chose to value in her heart led her into disobedience which is a sin that almost always eventually leads to death.  Be very careful what you value in your heart, for if you have decided to walk the pilgrim pathway of a Christian life, your heart belongs to God. 

The description of Lot's wife tells us that she turned into a PILLAR of salt.  The Hebrew word for “pillar” means a type of garrison, or something set to watch over something else.  The pillar of salt that used to be her body was now standing watch over what has become the area of  The Dead Sea.  This is an area where no life can exist.  Because Lot’s wife’s heart could not leave the ways of Sodom there was no hope for her to bring new life into another place. 

The sages have stories they tell of Lot’s wife.  They say her name was Adit and that she was native to Sodom.  Sodom actually had codes written in their laws that show they desired to use cruelty to strangers.  No citizen of Sodom had ever shown hospitality until Lot moved into the area.  It was said that when Lot showed hospitality to the angels, Lot’s wife disapproved of his actions based on the codes of the law of the area. 

The legends go that Lot asked his wife for salt to serve to his guest and she made a snide remark stating that he was introducing evil customs into their home.  She had no salt and went from house to house in the neighborhood borrowing salt and complaining about Lot entertaining strangers in their home.  This they say is why the mob gathered in front of Lot’s house, because his wife had been gossiping while she resented borrowing the salt for his guest.  When the mob showed up they mentioned the fact to Lot that the laws of the city demanded evil treatment of strangers.  They had come to implement this!

The sages reason that the angels asking Lot and his family not to look back as they escaped had to do with the fact that it is not appropriate to stare at the suffering of others, which was a common practice of the evil people of the area of Sodom and Gomorrah.   Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.  The Midrash explains:  She sinned with salt and she was punished with salt.  This gives a whole new twist to that old saying that your sins will find you out.

It is said by some that you only truly learn from the scriptures when you can see yourself in the scriptures.  This applies to both good and bad situations.  I doubt there is one wife living in the world today that has not run to a friend to complain of her husband’s actions she thought were wrong at one time or another; so be careful if you are pointing a finger at this woman of salt.  We all can see a bit of ourselves in Lot’s wife – both men and women, we just prefer not to have to look.

How can we all relate to a pillar of salt?

When Lot's wife's steps were stopped and she became a pillar of salt she was stuck there, hardened, never to move again.  We can all get stuck and hardened between where we are right now and where God is leading us to go with our lives.  It is often hard for us in our humanity to reason that the things God has said must be destroyed are not redeemable.  It is often hard to find the strength to let go of such things when they have become so familiar and we have held on to them so long.  We rationalize and try to find the good in them instead of following the popular children’s song of today – “Let It Go.”  A true soldier of God’s army is often called to “let go and move on.”  Sometimes the only redeemable thing is you, and that becomes possible only if you don’t look back.  Sometimes nothing else is possible if you are going to make the trip up to The Mountain of God. 

This all came very clear to me not so long ago as I drove through a winter wonderland of lights during Christmas with my grandson.  He is one who has been through a lot for a child of seven.  The song from "Frozen" came on over the speakers and  I discovered that he knew every word.  He sang them out with passion as we drove through the cold blinking lights.  I stopped and listened as he sang.

The words were profound when I thought about them in relation to what children of this world (a world much like Sodom and Gomorrah) today have to endure and rise above.  To be a child today takes a lot of courage.  Here are the words (after a little credit to the proper people) that he sang:

(These are words taken from the movie “FROZEN.”  All rights and credit are given to Walt Disney Productions. The movie was based on Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale “The Snow Queen.”  Music was sung  in the movie both by Idina Menzel and Demi Lovato) “

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I'm the queen.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried!

Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well, now they know!

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door!

I don't care
What they're going to say
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway!

It's funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can't get to me at all!

It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me I'm free!

Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You'll never see me cry!

Here I stand
And here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on!

My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never going back,
The past is in the past!

Let it go, let it go
And I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone!

Here I stand
In the light of day
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway!

Suddenly, the message of the song and the message of Lot's wife were screaming out together in my brain.  We have to graciously accept the changes that God brings to us.  In the end they are for the best, but this is often hard to discern from where we are standing when they happen to us.  We all have to learn to let go of the ways of the world and walk on toward the ways of God.

I’ve never seen the movie "Frozen."  Up until this point I had never really listened to the words of the song even though it has been blasting out at us over our radios 24/7 lately.  But; as I looked at the innocent face of a child singing these forceful and passionate words it dawned on me that the song is almost prophetic for the children of this age.  They must learn to let go of all the evil and hate, lack of justice and misdirected love that generation after generation of mankind has forced upon the next generations.  They must leave Sodom and Gomorrah.  They must “let go” of the world and climb bravely up to The Mountain of God.  Their future, our future, the future of the whole world is in their hands.  They are our last hope.  Are we helping them?  Are we setting the example of what they need to walk away from and what they need to walk toward?  It matters now more than ever.  

If you have something in your life that prevents them from seeing God’s love, please, I beg you today – LET IT GO!

Do not become a pillar of salt.

Keep walking up the mountain of God and don’t ever look back.