Laudable Linkage

Posted on October 11, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I found several thought-provoking reads this week:

Why Looking Backwards Keeps You Safe, HT to Challies. “When I face a vexing theological question, I start with what I know for sure and use that to organize the field, eliminate options, and clarify the task. I move from the known to the unknown. In this case, two sound convictions guided my assessment of the ‘revival.'”

Your Father’s Care Is Round You There, HT to Challies. “Good hymns, old and new, have a way of exposing and strengthening our hearts across a seemingly infinite variety of situations. They present us with general truths, anchored in God’s Word, that penetrate into the darkest and most complicated crevices of our circumstances.”

Praying for the Impossible and the Simple. When we pray for God to save our lost loved ones, we’re praying for Him to do something only He can do, but something which He delights to do.

God Is Our Guide on Paths We Did not Choose. HT to Challies. “When I was fifteen, I made a promise to the Lord that I would obediently go wherever he led. Back then, I was sure he’d call me to an impoverished country to serve as a missionary. I was open to that. Instead, he has led me into a life marked by physical pain. It’s not exactly what I had in mind. . . . sometimes God guides us to places we could never have imagined for ourselves. His plans for us are good, but they are not always easy. Even so, I’ve learned that when God calls us to walk through a shadowed valley, he has promised to go with us. We can trust his guidance because he provides what we need to persevere through every valley.”

How Reading the Bible Every Day Changes Everything. “It did, indeed, take me fifteen months to finish, but I finished. I did something most Christians will never do. I read the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In the process, I discovered something unexpected—the key to a dynamic Christian life. Little by little, as I read through my Bible, amazing things began to happen. Some of them were so subtle I didn’t notice them at first. Others took years to fully manifest, but they transformed my life.”

Truth in Small Bites Is Truth Nonetheless. “When life takes a turn, most of us tend to push Bible reading aside until our circumstances return to normal. If you’re not able to sit down at your kitchen table for a quiet hour of in-depth study, you don’t even crack open God’s Word. Somewhere along the way, you’ve told yourself that if you’re not able to feast, you shouldn’t eat at all, not realizing that a handful of almonds in the middle of the night is far better than allowing your soul to starve.”

We Still Need Gentlemen. “We all saw the pictures of men who stood by and watched while 23 year old Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on a bus. We saw those photos and wondered how we’ve come to this place in history, a time when men have lost their protective instinct. According to scripture, men were created to protect and treasure those more vulnerable than themselves. God calls men to be strong, to be heroes, to be courageous and caring. Sometimes when we turn on the news, we begin to realize that many men have lost their sense of purpose in favor of apathy or self-preservation.”

Watch Your Language, HT to Challies. “Nasty language is a black-magic wand. When you touch it to a person,place or thing, you perform an act of mild (and sometimes not so mild) denigration. When you use everyone’s favorite vulgar word to denote the sexual act, you reduce the act. You gut the spirit life out of it. With profanity, you denigrate what you feel is overvalued. You try to cut it down to size. … When you curse compulsively you produce a view of the world that’s smaller and meaner.”

Welcoming Others with Gospel Hospitality, HT to Challies. “When we hear the word ‘hospitality,’ we may think only of inviting people into our home. The thought of doing so may create a feeling of panic deep within us as we think about cleaning the house or fixing an elaborate meal. Hospitality can feel risky as we think about letting strangers and even friends in our homes and our lives. But gospel hospitality says nothing about a clean house or fancy meals. In fact, nothing about the gospel is fancy or flashy.”

Let Kids Read Dangerous Stories: 3 Thoughts on the Rise of Cozy Fiction, HT to Challies. “I’ve begun noticing a trend in popular fiction books over the past few years, and that’s the word ‘cozy’. Cozy romance, cozy mystery, cozy fantasy. We’re surrounded by books and stories of picture-perfect relationships, dreamy Hallmark settings, and adventures-that-aren’t-really adventurous.” I agree with this writer that these kinds of stories are okay, but not realistic. I like the G. K. Chesterton quote she shares: “Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.”

How God loves us: not because we are lovable but because He is love,
not because He needs to receive but He delights to give.–C. S. Lewis

Does God Have a Specific Will For Your Life?

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I became a Christian in my later teen years, when one faces myriad choices that will affect the rest of life: college or not, and where; majors; vocations; mates, location.

In the years since my teens, I’ve read a number of opinions about discerning God’s will for your life, or for specific decisions.

Some say God does not have a specific will for whom you marry, what job you do, etc. Big and small decisions are up to you–if you love God, whatever you want to do is fine. I assume they base that view on Proverbs 16:9: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

And while that verse is true and comforting, I don’t really see a “do whatever you want” attitude in Scripture.

God had a specific will at least for some people:

Rebekah to marry Isaac.
David, not his brothers, to be king.
Not David, but his son to build the temple (2 Samuel 7).
Moses to lead the children of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 3)
Mary to bear Jesus.
Paul to go to Macedonia, not Asia (Acts 16:6-10).

Furthermore, James 4:3-17 warns against planning to go to another town and trade without taking God’s will into account. I would assume that principle applies to all our plans, not just travel and trade.

And then, Ephesians 2:8-10, after the famous verses about being saved by grace through faith and not our works, informs us that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God saves His people by His grace, and their faith is then expressed in good works. But could it also mean that, in God’s workmanship, He prepared each person for specific works? Some commentators seem to think so. Speaking of this passage, Warren Wiersbe says:

These works are not only good; they are also “prepared.” “Good works which God hath before ordained [prepared] that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2: 10). The only other time this word is used in the New Testament is in Romans 9: 23: “vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” The unbeliever walks “according to the course of this world” (Eph. 2: 2), but the believer walks in the good works God has prepared for him.

This is an amazing statement. It means that God has a plan for our lives and that we should walk in His will and fulfill His plan. Paul is not talking about “kismet”—an impersonal fate that controls your life no matter what you may do. He is talking about the gracious plan of a loving heavenly Father, who wills the very best for us (Be Rich [Ephesians]: Gaining the Things That Money Can’t Buy, pp. 60-61, Kindle version).

On the other end of the spectrum, conscientious people who care very much about God’s will can become almost obsessed with finding and following it, and fearful of missing it. This is where I was in my early twenties.

One example was in dating my husband. When we began to get more serious, I struggled with whether he was the man God wanted me to marry. My parents were divorced, so I knew love didn’t always last. I had been engaged before. But in processing things after we broke up, I realized we were not right for each other. I was stunned that I didn’t see that in the first place. If I could have been so mistaken then, how could I be sure now?

It took me a long time to realize that if I earnestly wanted and asked for God’s guidance, He would answer that prayer. I had grown tired of the “dating game” in college and prayed that no one would ask me out that God didn’t want me to go out with. Jim was the very next person to ask me out. Unlike in my previous relationships, I was praying for God’s guidance in dating and finding the person He wanted me to marry. There was no reason to think my relationship with Jim was not God’s leading.

On the other hand, for many years I feared I had missed God’s will in my college major. I wanted to major in English, but felt Home Economics Education would be more practical. By the time I got to my senior year, I knew I did not want to teach in high school. With a later interest in writing, I wished I had chosen that English major. I grieved that I had “wasted” my college education by choosing wrong.

However, I realized God did use my major tremendously in my life, even though the outcome was not the intended one. More than anything, I wanted to establish a Christian home, and what I learned in my major fueled that desire. The Bible classes and Christian influence and teaching all through school fed my soul and grounded me spiritually. The education classes helped with people skills. I realized writing can be a form of teaching. I minored in English, so I did get a few classes in writing. And I’ve had opportunity since to take in writing instruction through books, blogs, webinars, and conferences.

God doesn’t make His will elusive. He wants to lead and guide us.

This is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever (Psalm 48:14).

For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me (Psalm 31:3).

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11)

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you (Psalm 32:8).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

I’ve often wished that God told us exactly what He wants us to do, as He did for some in Bible times. But I think seeking His will is an exercise in faith that can result in drawing closer to God as we evaluate and pray over aspects of our life that we might not otherwise.

I think finding God’s will is somewhere between the two extremes of not considering it at all and considering it overmuch.

So how do we find God’s will?

Pray. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12). “We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9).

Be humble and willing for whatever God wants. “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way” Psalm 25:9).

Read God’s Word regularly. “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory” (Psalm 73:24). However, the Bible is not like a “Magic 8 Ball.” We don’t open the Bible, let our finger fall on a verse, and take that as God’s answer.

Even in our regular reading, we have to be careful not to take a verse out of context and apply it to ourselves. Let’s say you are considering the mission field. In your daily quiet time, you come to God’s call to Abraham in Genesis 12: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” That may seem like a direct answer. But what are you going to do when you come across Mark 5:19: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” God may use these verses to help you be willing to go or stay, but the main point of the verses concerns what God is doing in the lives of those in the passage.

Instead, as we read the Bible day by day, we get to know our God better. As we do, we discern more how He might be leading.

Do what you know to be the will of God now. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Many verses speak of God’s will:

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor (1 Thessalonians 4:1-4).

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:1-2).

There’s a lovely song titled “This Is the Will of God” incorporating several verses about God’s will.

Consider your gifts and bent. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (Romans 12:6a). “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). As a quiet, bookish person who doesn’t like crowds, I’m not likely to be called to something involving lots of noise and activity and people. An extrovert who loves being with and talking to people likely will not thrive alone in an office eight hours a day.

Sometimes you discover your gifts by trying different things. In my early Christian life, I was often asked to participate in children’s ministries. I did, and I hope it was useful to those involved. But I didn’t really enjoy it and often had to deal with myself about a less-than-enthusiastic attitude. Then one day our Awana secretary at church asked me to be her assistant, helping with ordering and checking in supplies, keeping score during games, adding up points and assembling awards. I loved it.

One caveat here: God may call you to something you don’t feel gifted for, like He did for Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, and others. In that case, either He has already gifted you, and you don’t realize it yet, or He will when your gifts are needed.

Ask others. “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14). Sometimes another person’s insight can be very helpful. They might have wisdom in the area you’re wondering about, or they might see something in you that you don’t see. It helps to ask more than one person, because one opinion might be a little off.

Take the next step. God usually leads step by step, without giving us the whole roadmap at once. If you think God might be leading you to a particular college, look into it. Ask for materials from them. Perhaps go visit. If you think God may be leading you to a certain vocation, read about it, learn about it, maybe take an internship in it. Those experiences, bathed in prayer, can help you know whether to take the next step.

What do you want to do? “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). This doesn’t mean God will give you every little thing your heart desires. As a good parent, He sometimes has to say no. But as we delight ourselves in Him, He puts the right desires in our heart. Again, sometimes He calls us to do what we don’t want to at first. But often, what we yearn to do is what He is leading us to do.

Serve faithfully where you are. As a young man, Joseph could not have known all that was ahead for him: being sold into slavery by his brothers, being wrongly accused, sent to prison, and then becoming second to Pharaoh in Egypt. But He was faithful to God in every situation. Likewise, as a shepherd boy, David had no idea he would someday be king. Even after he was anointed by Samuel, it was years before he came to the throne. Yet he followed and served God all along the way.God

Consider open and closed doors. “A wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9). Once I planned to go on a school-sponsored mission trip over Christmas break. But the school officials would not approve my going because I was in debt to the school: they felt I needed to work to take care of my obligations before asking people to give to a mission trip.

A closed door doesn’t necessarily mean that opportunity is not God’s will. It may not be the right time. Or the closed door may be an obstacle rather than a “no”–some Christians have gotten into countries that are closed to missionaries by pursuing other vocations within those countries. Gladys Aylward was not approved by China Inland Mission to be one of their missionaries, but she worked and saved money to go to China on her own. She had a long, fruitful ministry.

Likewise, an open door doesn’t necessarily mean that situation is God’s will. There may be several open doors, and discernment is needed to know which one. But by and large, this is one way God guides.

Trust God for the answer. Once my husband had an opportunity for a new job in another state. He was happy in his work, but he felt he should investigate the other possibility. He interviewed and was offered the job.

But he wasn’t sure what to do. There were no red flags, no extenuating circumstances that would point to one job or the other. He was willing to stay or go.

He went to our pastor for counsel, who shared with him Proverbs 16:11: “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” The pastor told Jim that as he had prayed for God’s guidance and was willing to do whatever God wanted, he could trust that when the time came to give a final answer, whatever God laid on his heart at that moment was the right thing to do.

When discussions on God’s will come up, someone will say, “Does God have a will about everything? Even what cereal you eat?” Well–some cereals are certainly better for you than others. There are times in Scripture when circumstances are left up to the individual, like the differences in Romans 14, or the famous disagreement between Barnabas and Paul in Acts 15. Paul once said of Apollos, “Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity” (1 Corinthians 16:12). We don’t know what steps Apollos took to come to that decision. Paul shares general thoughts about marriage in 1 Corinthians 7 and distinguishes between God’s instruction and his own advice, but he doesn’t seem to tell any one individual what to do. 1 Corinthians 10 deals with different situations involving meat offered to idols, something common in that day and time. Many of these situations may not have God’s exact will expressed, but they involve wisdom, spiritual maturity, love and concern for others, and a concern for God’s glory over selfish desires.

Multitudes of books have been written on this topic, so there’s much more that could be said and a variety of opinions. But I think we would agree that God promises to lead us and wants us to seek to follow Him closely.

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

God’s Solutions Are Better

Posted on August 4, 2024 by Barbara Harper

A man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years laid beside a pool in Bethesda. An angel was said to come down and stir the waters occasionally, and whoever stepped into the pool first was made well. This man had tried several times to get to the pool, but someone always got in ahead of him. But still he came, or was brought, to wait beside the pool.

One day a stranger approached him and asked if he wanted to be well. He explained that he hadn’t been able to make it to the pool in time. Perhaps he thought this stranger would help him get there.

Instead, the stranger said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

From a human standpoint, we wouldn’t have been surprised if the sick man said, “But, sir, that’s exactly what I cannot do.” Instead, before those thoughts could even form, the man found that he could stand. Not only that, he could carry a load. No physical therapy, no reawakening atrophied muscles, just instant, complete healing.

This story, as you probably know, is from John 5. I had read it many times over the years before something stood out to me.

The lame man was fixated on one solution to his problem, and had been for a very long time. His one focus was to get into that pool, and he kept trying despite repeated failed attempts. He didn’t recognize that the stranger standing in front of him could provide another solution, much less be a better solution. And the invalid did not even realize that the healing of his body was not his primary need. When Jesus found the former invalid later, Jesus told the man to “Sin no more.”

We have a tendency to fixate on our own solutions, too, don’t we? If we can just marry that guy, land this job, get that loan, treatment, or whatever, life will be perfect. We’ve looked at the situation from every angle, and, yes, this is what we need. And we overlook Jesus in the process.

Too, while we’re so focused on that one area of desire, we can miss the greater need: the need of our hearts for forgiveness and a closer walk with Jesus.

There may be nothing at all wrong with what we want. It may, in fact, even be the Lord’s will to provide us with that very outcome. But it might be God’s will to bring that answer about in a different way than we had planned, or to provide a different (and better) outcome, or to withhold the answer we wanted while providing grace to deal with it.

There’s nothing wrong with planning and seeking solutions. In fact, the Bible often commends planning. But instead of presenting our agenda to God for His stamp of approval, God’s Word encourages us to seek Him, His guidance, and His direction.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that”(James 4:13-15).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

And then sometimes we feel like Jehoshaphat when he faced a bigger army than his own. He confessed, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.“

God sees the big picture. He knows what’s ahead. He knows all the ramifications of all our choices. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. He knows what we need more than we do. And He is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

The “cares of this life” can choke the seed of God’s Word. By God’s grace, let’s not overlook the Lord in our desperation to get our needs met. Let’s not neglect our spiritual needs while trying to fulfill our desires. Let’s seek Him first.

(Revised from the archives)

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Remembering How God Has Led

Posted on July 11, 2021 by Barbara Harper

I don’t know what triggered my trip down memory lane. I sat with my Daily Light open but unread, and began to pray for God to open my understanding and speak to my heart from His Word.

I thought back with wonder of the many different paths my life could have taken. Several events led to my salvation. What if one of them hadn’t happened?

There were different temptations, some of which I regret failing. I could have been done in by any of them.

My life could have followed any number of paths, not just theoretically, but due to influences at the time. I could have become an alcoholic. I had planned to get married right out of high school, not realizing I would be marrying the wrong person. I not only would have missed meeting my wonderful husband, but I would not have experienced all I learned both intellectually and spiritually at a Christian college.

I could have fallen for a television evangelist’s false doctrine (I actually called the number on the screen once). People are so vulnerable just before and after salvation, when their interest in the Lord is aroused but they have no discernment yet.

In 8th or 9th grade, we moved to a new town. The school I attended was the most cliquish place I had ever been. Well-defined groups didn’t allow for new members. My mom had to plead and almost push me out of the car at school in the mornings. I spent many lunch breaks walking around the grounds by myself in tears. Finally I became friends with another girl who was also, for some unknown reason, outside the school’s social circles. I discovered years later that it was the Lord’s mercy that kept me from getting involved with the popular crowd, as they were into a lot of unhealthy activities. What if I had gotten in with them? I probably would have gotten into some kind of trouble and possibly would have become proud and condescending.

Between my sophomore and junior year, my mother left my father and took my siblings and me to Houston. The break had been coming for years, but it still hurt when it finally happened. We moved from a very small town of less than 200 to the teeming metropolis of Houston. The culture shock was very real. In those days before the Internet, I had little contact with my friends from school. I had no opportunity to make new friends since school wouldn’t start for months yet. It was the loneliest time in my life. I remember lying on my bed clinging desperately to Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Looking back, I didn’t know fully what that verse meant. But I knew that, to the degree I knew how, I loved God, and I trusted Him to work things out for good. Though that was one of the lowest points in my life, it was also pivotal. It was through this move that God provided miraculously for me to go to a Christian school for two years, led me to a good church, helped me make sure of my salvation, and let me know about a Christian college.

Somehow God led me all the way.

My heart was tender thinking back over God’s working in my life. As I opened my Bible reading for the day, I came to Deuteronomy 8:2: “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness.” It’s amazing how God prepares me for what I am going to encounter in His Word. I thought my mental wanderings about my past were just daydreams and rabbit trails, but here He had led me to do just what the Scripture said.

Several times in Deuteronomy 8, Moses urged the Israelites to remember the Lord and not forget Him. Peter wanted “to stir you up by way of reminder” (2 Peter 1:13; 3:1). Jesus told the Ephesian church, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:4). As God called Israel, back to Himself, He said, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown” (Jeremiah 2:2).

This is what I most want my children, grandchildren, readers, and anyone with whom I have any influence to know, to remember: that Christianity is not just a culture, not just a set of doctrines, not just what we do and don’t do. It is the basis of all of those. But first of all it’s that personal relationship with the Lord.

Do you have that? Have there been times in your life you knew God was at work in you, drawing you to Himself? Do you have warm and tender moments where He met with you personally?

If you professed faith as a young child, you may not remember a definite “before” and “after” to your life of faith. But you can be grateful for God’s preventative work in your life and the scars and bad memories He kept you from. As you’ve walked with the Lord, I am sure you’ve found that the “big sins” are not always the dramatic ones that everyone sees. Inner wrestlings with pride and self-will are just as deadly. You’ve discovered that it takes as much of God’s grace to battle those as it does to defeat addiction. You’ve probably experienced times when God answered prayer or something in His Word met your need of the moment. It’s not the drama of one’s initial testimony that determines what kind of Christian life we have: it’s simple faith, not in our faith, but in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Nothing stirs up our love and gratitude towards the Lord like remembering how He saved us and led us. It’s a blessing to sometimes review the “Ebenezers,” those special times of help that we’ve experienced along the way. Then we can say along with the psalmist:

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me.
Psalm 63:5-8

(I often link up with some of these bloggers)

A Time to Look Back, a Time Not to Look Back

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Barbara Harper

The end of the year encourages a lot of looking back over the past 365 days. I enjoy end-of-the-year compilations, whether they are book lists, news stories, or family newsletters.

A few years ago, a saying was making the rounds on Pinterest and Facebook: “Don’t look back: you’re not going that way.”

Is that good advice? It can be sometimes, if looking back is keeping you from moving forward, keeping you from obedience, tempting you in any kind of wrong way, fueling your longing for something or someone you should not have, or causing you to wallow in regret instead of moving on to repentance and change.

Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Also, when God says, “Go!” then it is not time to look back. We don’t know all the reasons Lot’s family was told not to look back. And we don’t know all the reasons Lot’s wife did look back, but she was turned to a pillar of salt for disobeying. When Jesus admonished His hearers to “Remember Lot’s wife,” the context was the coming of the kingdom of God. Just after mentioning her, Jesus said, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”

Paul said, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

But are there times to look back? This depiction of the saying I mentioned amused me, because in context, not looking back would be a major safety hazard!

This one also makes a good point:

There are times God tells us to look back. Isaiah 51:1 tells us, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.” It is good to look back at where the Lord found us and where He brought us from. Many times in both the Old and New Testaments, a prophet, preacher, or apostle recounted Israel’s history to them, reminding them of their unfaithfulness and His faithfulness and mercy and grace. They were told to “remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no” (Deuteronomy 8:2), “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee” (Deuteronomy 32:7), “Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth” (I Chronicles 16:12).

Also, throughout the Bible God told the people to set up memorials to mark some occurrence of His help on their behalf in the past. Those memorials were reminders of what He had done plus a testimony as people told the story behind the memorials to their children.

A couple of churches mentioned in Revelation were admonished to Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent,” (Revelation 2:5), and “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you” (3:2-3).

The Psalmist said “I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy” “Psalm 63:6-7, ESV_. By doing so “satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips” (v. 5). In Psalm 77:11-12 (ESV), he said “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.” Many times psalmists encouraged themselves by looking back and remembering how God had met their needs and faithfully dealt with them in the past.

Peter said, “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour” (I Peter 3:1-2).

So, do we look back or do we not look back? We can’t live life by catch phrases. Ecclesiastes 3 tells us “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted,” and so on. There are times and reasons to look back: to learn from our mistakes, to humble ourselves, to remember God’s help, deliverance, and provision of the past,to encourage ourselves that God is loves us, is faithful, and powerful to take care of us now and in the future. But there are times and reasons not to look back, as I mentioned above. It depends on what we are looking at and why and what effect it has on us.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our Guide while life shall last,
And our eternal home.

~ Isaac Watts, 1719