The Christian should be like an old pilgrim, with his gown and staff, and if he didn’t get a bed, he would lie on the ground like old Jacob did, with a stone under his head. Instead, your accommodations for back and belly, bed and board, all that Sodom can afford, are the means of destroying you, and pampering you into committing grievous abominations.

John Livingstone (1603-1672) was the minister of Ancrum parish near Jedburgh in the Borders. He ministered there from 1648 until 1662 when he was ousted from his church by the authorities and banished to Holland.

We can’t hold on to the past, but that doesn’t stop us sometimes feeling nostalgic about things which were actually not really good in themselves and not beneficial for us. We think affectionately about situations and behaviours which were in reality unpleasant and sinful, finding them more tantalising than the anticipation of reaching heaven after just a bit more perseverance. Yet Jesus warned us against this, reminding us of the tragic and terrible case of Lot’s wife. The Covenanter John Livingstone preached a sermon on Jesus’ warning. In the following updated extract, Livingstone asks, “What should we remember about Lot’s wife?” He wants us to be sufficiently alarmed by her dreadful mistake that we will not slack off in putting our old sinful ways behind us and pressing on to our safe haven in heaven.

This would seem a very gloomy example that we have to speak of at this time, and yet it is God’s Word, and not unprofitable. Here you have a very necessary memorandum to all generations, “Remember Lot’s wife.” If you remember the history, there came two angels to Sodom to bring Lot, his wife, and his daughters out of the city. Approaching hazard forbade them to look behind them, and yet this poor woman only went and looked back with a longing eye towards Sodom, and she became a pillar of salt.

Memory is a notable servant to Jesus Christ, but, alas! The lack of memory has sent many souls into hell. ‘It’s my nature to be forgetful,’ they say. But I say to them, ‘Woe to you, for you can remember to keep your appointment with the devil, and you can remember foolish tales.’ Our hearts are like a watch which someone takes to a skilled watchmaker asking, ‘Mend this little thing in it.’ But when the watchmaker looks into it, he finds that there is not a single right wheel in it — it’s all wrong. The mind, will, and affection are all gone wrong. The wisdom, understanding and spirit have all gone wrong by our first parents eating the forbidden fruit, though they were warned by God’s express prohibition.

The salvation or damnation of Lot’s wife we shall not, and cannot, determine, for there is such little light on it. But for sure, she is set forth here as a warning to us.

What should we remember about her?

She Was Married to a Good Man

Remember that she was the wife of Lot, a good man, and a professed believer in God, brought up and educated in good company. It may be that she was of good upbringing also. But alas! That did not do her any good. Therefore, although your good parentage and good upbringing is a mercy, yet do not boast of it. Though you may have lived for a long time in a good household, what of it?

She Was Heading to Safety

Remember that she was half-way to Zoar, with Sodom burning behind her. Maybe at this point she thought she was past all danger and entirely safe. While the angel took hold of her hand, it’s as if she’s saying, ‘Thanks be to God, I’m now past the worst of it, and nearer to heaven than I was!’

Some may seem to be half-way to heaven, and yet not be on the way at all. The question arises, ‘How far may a reprobate go on in Christianity?’

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