Many times, when people are confronted with their need for repentance, they hesitate to leave behind the lives they’ve known. They may live amid wickedness, tolerating or even practicing it. 

They might have acclimated to their environments to the point that they became products of it. 

Let’s face it: Sin entices. It satisfies—if only our flesh, if only for a moment. 

Such was the life of Lot’s wife.

A Warning of Judgment

Years earlier, Abraham and his nephew Lot had been forced to part ways because of the land could not support the flocks and herds of both families (Genesis 13). Lot chose the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, where the land was lush. But wickedness also grew there, and the seed of sin took root in the hearts of Lot and his family.

Eventually the Lord declared that “the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is grave” (Genesis 18:20 ESV). The time for judgment had come.

He sent two angels with an urgent warning for Lot and his family. 

“For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”—Genesis 19:13 (ESV)

When Lot urged his two future sons-in-law to leave, they laughed him off. The next day, they would regret their choice.

Morning Brings Mourning

The following morning, Lot lingered despite the angels’ warning. So the heavenly hosts took Lot, his wife and his daughters out of the city.

And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”—Genesis 19:17 (ESV)

The angels permitted Lot to flee to the small nearby town of Zoar. Only after Lot’s family arrived to safety, the angels delivered on their promise. They destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by raining “sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven” (Genesis 19:24 ESV).

But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.—Genesis 19:26 (ESV)

She, like the land and life she had known, was lost. And her actions demonstrate what she had loved most.

An Example to Us All

The Hebrew term for “looked back” denotes regret. Lot’s wife didn’t just look back out of curiosity. She looked back with longing.

Because of her rebellious heart, Jesus cited her as an example of what not to do in the end times, when judgment comes to the whole world.

“Remember Lot’s wife!” He said. “Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.”—Luke 17:32 (NIV)

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.—1 John 2:15 (NIV)