Certainties and uncertainties
3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Look Back No Matter What’s Left Behind
It’s impossible to be in two places at the same time
1. Looking Back Provides a False Sense of Security
Change always brings with it a sense of challenge, uncertainty, and unknown, but looking back and dwelling on the past provides a sense of safety and security, even when what you are looking back on is toxic and dangerous.
The Israelites wanted to be set free from their bondage, but they did not trust God.
When they got out of Egypt, they longed to go back for the false sense of security it provided to them. They had food and water back there and now they were starving. All they could think about was what they had (Exodus 16:3).
They couldn’t trust what was ahead of them, even though they cried out to God to save them.
Often we cry out to God to save us from our situations, but truthfully we want to be saved on our own terms. When that doesn’t happen, we are disappointed and tempted to look back.
We’re tempted to go back to bondage.
You may find some comfort in the past because it’s familiar, even though it was difficult. A familiar past may seem more appealing that life in the unknown so many people go back to slavery and abuse.
I’ve seen time and time again when people go back to toxic and abusive relationships, destructive lifestyles, and manipulative friendships just because it’s familiar and provide a false of security.
I’ve seen it in my own life when I couldn’t let a relationship go and kept going back because it was familiar. To me, a familiar painful past that felt like bondage was better than an uncertain future where I didn't know what to expect.
Every time I went back hoping that the situation would change for the better, it only got worse.
I didn’t belong stuck in bondage.
God wanted me out of those situations, but I couldn't trust that there were better things in store for me. If only we could arrive at a place where we can believe God’s plan is better than ours.
God has more for us and the life he has for us is so much better than the one we will leave behind.
2. Looking Back Feeds The Desires Of The Flesh
I’m sure you’ve heard of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah where the people sinned against God and he was rained burning sulfur on them.
Lot’s wife lived there with her family, and though it was a place of much immorality and disgraces, her heart was very much tied to it. Her treasures were there. The treasures that would feed her desires of the flesh.
God told Lot and his family to leave everything and not look back (Genesis 19:17 NIV).
But Lot’s wife couldn’t keep her eyes ahead because her heart was so caught in the treasures of this world. She couldn’t see ahead because she couldn’t see the future that God had planned for her.
Lot’s wife’s treasures were so buried in the city she was leaving behind and she couldn’t trust God with her future. As she was leaving the city, she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.
And Lot’s wife isn't the only one who looked back. I’ve looked back when I was supposed to be looking ahead.
When I kept going back to a past that wasn't serving me, I believed that my treasures were too valuable to be left behind but when I now look back on my life, I’m so thankful that God brought me out of those situations that would have resulted in my destruction if I stayed there.
It may seem like the most challenging thing to do when you have to leave behind people, possessions, and relationships we hold so dear, but when you put your trust in God, your pain will eventually turn into your gain.
That’s because God knows best. He sees things that will happen in the future before you even catch on. He knows things you don’t know.
Looking and constantly living in the past will drain the life out of you. Trust that better things lie ahead and keep looking forward.
God knows best. He sees things that will happen in the future before you even catch on. He knows things you don’t know.
3. Looking Back Delays The Future
Many of us keep looking back on an unchangeable past while turning our backs on a grand future, but it's just impossible to be in two places at the same time.
We can choose the past or the future, but we can't exist in both worlds. We can never give one hundred percent of ourselves in the present if we keep dwelling on the past.
When we keep looking back, we never reach our highest potential. Our destinies lie in the future and the past is over.
When you keep going back to the past, you delay and put your future on hold. You waste time on something that can't be changed instead of focusing on building a brand new life for yourself.
Our futures get delayed and fear dominates our lives when we turn around and go back into the past.
The Israelites were slaves and in extreme bondage. They cried out to God to deliver them, and he did. He delivered them from Pharoah, protected and provided for them in the wilderness. But they could not let go of the past and therefore got blinded from their glorious futures in the promised land.
The past kept them in fear, and they doubted God’s plans. Because of this, they never made it to the land that was promised to them.
It’s now too late for the Israelites and Lot’s wife, but it’s not too late for you.
Living in the past is of great detriment to your future, so leave the past where it is — in the past — and look towards the future God has for you.
The past is over; clear your heart of the clutter and march forward.