Burn the Plow: No Turning Back

— God Is Calling Us Forward

By Pastor Eric Schroeder | Radiant New Life ChurchSeptember 13, 2026

There are moments in our walk with God when He calls us to move forward, but moving forward requires us to be willing to leave something behind.

I have been sensing strongly that we are entering into a new season. It is a season of moving forward, advancement, greater surrender, and greater expectation for what God desires to do.

But I also believe this new season comes with a challenge:

It is time to burn the plow.

What Does It Mean to Burn the Plow?

In 1 Kings 19:19–21, Elijah found Elisha working in a field. Elisha was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen when Elijah passed by and threw his mantle over him.

Everything was about to change.

The mantle represented a calling. Elisha was being invited to leave what was familiar and step into something he had never experienced before.

Elisha responded in an extraordinary way. After saying goodbye to his family, he sacrificed his oxen and used his plowing equipment as fuel.

Think about what he did.

The oxen and plow represented his livelihood, security, familiarity, and the life he had always known. Elisha could have simply parked the plow somewhere and followed Elijah. If things became difficult, he could have returned home, picked up the plow, and gone back to his old life.

But Elisha burned it.

He wasn't planning his return.

He was preparing for his future.

Sometimes we tell God we trust Him while still keeping a backup plan. We want to follow Him, but we also want something familiar waiting behind us in case following Him becomes uncomfortable.

There are times when faith requires us to say:

“God, I trust You enough that I don't need to keep one foot in yesterday.”

Stop Looking Back

There is another sobering picture of looking backward in Genesis 19:26.

Lot and his family were being delivered from Sodom and told not to look back. Yet Lot's wife turned around.

She had physically left Sodom, but something in her was still connected to what was behind her.

The lesson is powerful:

You can leave something physically while still carrying it spiritually and emotionally.

Maybe God has already delivered you from something, but you continue rehearsing it.

Maybe someone hurt you years ago, but the offense is still alive.

Maybe you made mistakes and continue allowing regret to define you.

Maybe God closed a door, but you keep standing outside wishing it would reopen.

Our past has value when it becomes our testimony, but it becomes dangerous when we make it our destination.

We should be able to look backward and say:

Look where God brought me from.

Look what God delivered me from.

Look what God carried me through.

Then turn around and keep moving forward.

Keep Your Eyes Forward

Jesus addressed this directly in Luke 9:59–62.

Several people expressed a desire to follow Him, but their responses contained conditions.

“Lord, I will follow You, but...”

That little word “but” can reveal something that has become more important than obedience.

“Lord, I'll obey You, but...”

“Lord, I'll surrender, but...”

“Lord, I'll follow You, but first...”

Jesus ultimately said that the person who puts his hand to the plow and looks backward is not fit for the Kingdom of God.

A farmer cannot plow a straight line while constantly looking behind him.

Neither can we.

Where our eyes go, our lives eventually follow.

Following Jesus requires our attention, obedience, trust, and surrender.

You Cannot Reach for Tomorrow While Gripping Yesterday

Paul gives us another powerful picture in Philippians 3:13–14.

Paul acknowledged that he had not arrived. He hadn't reached perfection. There was still more of God for him to pursue.

But Paul knew one thing:

He couldn't get there by living in yesterday.

He chose to forget what was behind and reach forward toward what was ahead.

That means there are some things we simply cannot carry into the next season.

For some, burning the plow means releasing offense.

For others, it is unforgiveness, bitterness, disappointment, rejection, regret, failure, past wounds, old habits, or an old identity.

Whatever it may be, remember this:

You cannot reach for tomorrow while gripping yesterday.

You may never be able to change what somebody did to you, but you can decide that what they did will no longer control where you are going.

Your past does not get to determine your future when your future belongs to God.

Don't Limit God to What He Did Yesterday

This principle even applies to revival and moves of God.

I love studying what God has done throughout history. We should remember the great awakenings, revivals, miracles, healings, and outpourings.

They should make us hungry.

They should increase our expectation.

They should remind us of what is possible when people become desperate for God's presence.

But there is a danger when we become so attached to how God moved yesterday that we fail to recognize how He is moving today.

Past revival should create expectation, not limitation.

We don't simply want God to reproduce yesterday.

Our prayer should be:

“God, do it again—but move however You desire. We want what You are doing now!”

Behold, God Is Doing Something New

God says in Isaiah 43:18–19 not to dwell on the former things because He is doing something new.

Sometimes our attachment to what God did prevents us from recognizing what God is doing.

There are seasons when God says:

That season was good, but it is finished.

That was where I had you, but now I am calling you somewhere new.

Stop looking backward and trust Me with what is ahead.

I believe we are entering a season of forward movement, advancement, greater influence, greater surrender, and greater manifestations of God's presence and power.

But we cannot enter a new season while dragging the plows of the old season behind us.

What Is Your Plow?

That is the question each of us must answer.

What are you still holding onto that God is asking you to release?

What offense are you still carrying?

What disappointment are you still rehearsing?

What failure are you allowing to define you?

What old identity are you still wearing?

What familiar place keeps calling you backward?

What are you keeping as your backup plan because you're afraid to trust God completely?

Maybe God is saying to you today:

Burn the plow.

Not because your past didn't matter.

Not because God wasn't working in your previous season.

But because there is more ahead.

Elisha burned the plow.

Jesus said don't look back.

Paul said forget what lies behind and reach forward.

Isaiah declared that God is doing something new.

So today, make the decision:

My past will not control my future.

My failures will not define me.

My offenses will not imprison me.

Yesterday's season will not keep me from today's assignment.

I will forget what lies behind.

I will reach toward what lies ahead.

I will fix my eyes on Jesus.

I will trust God with what comes next.

Burn the plow. There is no turning back. God is calling us forward.

— Pastor Eric Schroeder

Radiant New Life Church