But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.

~Genesis 19:26 NLT

“I wish I could come back.” But there was no turning back.

Every year, it happens. Most of the time, quite a few utter the statement. High school freshmen who hated middle school but now wish they could return. We middle school teachers tried to warn them about the transition. We told them how much more difficult high school would be. But they couldn’t wait to be delivered from the prison of middle school—or so they thought.

Then, the summer passed, and they entered the halls of the ivory tower for which they had longed. But it wasn’t what they thought. The pace was quicker. The homework load was heavier. Several returned to the middle school hall each morning to tell us they wanted to return. Perhaps I passed them in the high school hall or the lunchroom. “Dr. Wiles, can we come back, please?” Sadly, I had to tell them no.

I have taught some students who returned to my room every day before going to their high school morning class just to reminisce about the good old days of middle school. The days they didn’t think were good while they were there. The old saying is true: “We never know what we have until it’s gone.”

How long Lot and his family lived in wicked Sodom before God’s judgment, we don’t know. Did they make good friends there? Did they love the sinful lifestyle of most of the inhabitants? The day came when God grew tired of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. But as Lot and his family ran for their lives, Lot’s wife looked back. When she did, she became a pillar of salt.

Looking back can have merit. My students appreciated more what we had taught them in middle school once they were in high school. And they reflected on the good times they enjoyed in middle school, despite the difficult journey. Still, they couldn’t return. They had to move on. But had their longing been so intense that they couldn’t function in high school, the looking back would have been detrimental.

What God wanted Lot and his family to flee was the wicked influence Sodom provided. He wants the same for us. To be sure, we can’t leave the world—and most places we might live have wicked influences to some extent. But we also can’t live in the past, no matter how enjoyable it might have been. I would love to return to my carefree childhood days when Mom and Dad cared for me and my needs, but that will never happen again.

We live in transition, with one day melding into the next. We can’t go backward. Instead, we must move forward. Time doesn’t stand still but marches on, and we must march with it. Moving away from wickedness and toward godliness should be our goal. As the writer of Hebrews says, “Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding” (Hebrews 6:1 NLT).

As God’s children, we shouldn’t live where we don’t belong: in sin or regret. Sin always takes us where we don’t need to go, but God always extends forgiveness when we ask. And sometimes, perhaps often, God’s ways are not our ways. Yet, He has a bright future for us, and this is where we should focus.

Learn from the past, but don’t live there. 

Father, move me forward into the bright future You have in store. In Jesus’s name, amen. 

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2025: No Turning Back: Martin Wiles: All Rights Reserved.