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Walk Away

Hello out there! I've been a bit on the silent side for the past few weeks...the truth is, I was having a little trouble hearing from the Lord. It's amazing how clearly you can hear Him once you take a moment to really listen. Now....on to the blog.

The title of this blog comes from one of my FAVORITE songs by one of my FAVORITE groups called the Indigo Girls. I don't agree with a lot of their beliefs, but I find it interesting how I can find spiritual truths in their lyrics (and to their credit, they do make a surprising number of Biblical allusions). Anyway, back to my point. "Walk Away" is a song from the POV of a person who is leaving a relationship a bit reluctantly.

The first lines of the song are "We used to walk in each other's arms, we were one-on-one, that's what you said." The song goes on without a refrain/chorus, just a repeated line: "Walk away." For me the climax of the song is when the singer declares that she is a pillar of salt, but she wants her ex to understand that this is the last time she'll ever look behind.

For the past couple of days, that song has been in my head and in repeat on my iTunes player. "This is the last time I'll ever look behind." That is a powerful statement. Even more powerful is the singer's acknowledgement that she has already become a pillar of salt.



In case you are not aware, the "pillar of salt" is a Biblical allusion to Lot's wife in Gen 19:15-26. At that time, Lot and his family were fleeing the evil twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because the fire of the Lord was about to fall from Heaven to consume them because of their wickedness. Angels warned the family to flee the cities and not to look behind them. But Lot's wife did not heed the warning and became a pillar of salt.

And now here I am thousands of years later, being convicted by a secular song for exactly the same thing. As Christians, we are brand new creatures (see 2 Cor. 5:17). Old things have passed away and all things are brand new....but as humans, there is a part of us that tends to want to look back at what we left behind. Not with a heart of gratitude to God for what He's done, but with a sense of longing, wondering what could have been. In that moment, spiritually we turn into a pillar of salt.

And it can happen over and over again until one day we decide once and for all that enough is enough and we'll never look behind again. Making that choice is not easy. I happen to look behind more often than I care to share, but how will we ever make progress if we keep looking behind?

What is it in your life that you have to walk away from in order to draw closer to God? Have you identified it? Now ask yourself, is that person, thing or habit more important to you than your relationship with God?

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." - C.S. Lewis
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