Article April 6, 1987 Issue

Looking forward

Looking back instead of forward could keep us from seeing the present good in our lives.

Marceil Ruth DeLacy

It is generally recognized that looking backward while walking forward can be a dangerous business! Yet, otherwise sensible people often do this. I'm not just referring to the times when we may have turned to speak to someone passing by on a busy sidewalk and have nearly walked into a utility pole! Such experiences may be embarrassing, but they are not generally so damaging as the kind of "looking back" that goes on in the privacy of our own consciousness.

The Bible addresses this subject in several places. For example, in Genesis we read that Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt^{See Gen. 19:17, 26 .} because, instead of obeying the divine command to leave the sinful environment of Sodom and Gomorrah without a backward glance, she turned around to witness the destruction of these cities.

Reminding his disciples of this incident, Christ Jesus spoke of the day of judgment when each of them would face a similar choice.^{See Luke 17:28-37 .} "In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back." Continuing on this subject, he added, "Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left."

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