Oh the good old days. Do you remember when we had fish, leeks, melons and cucumbers? Nevermind we were enslaved, mistreated, whipped, beaten and groaning to be delivered but at least we had fish.
We have a tendency to glorify our past, remembering only the better parts while complaining about our today. In that aspect, we are not much different than the children of Israel.
We long to go back to the beginning of this great nation forgetting the atrocities of slavery and the eviction of Native Americans from their land.
We want the simpler times of the turn of the century when women were denied the right to vote, diseases ravaged bodies and witch hunts were a thing.
Oh the 50’s and 60’s when we could openly pray in schools while systematically denying a race of people adequate education through segregated classrooms. Abortion wasn’t legal but lynchings were common.
Let’s go back to the 80’s. America was strong. Our economy was booming and cocaine was the drug of choice for the affluent. Crack babies were common. AIDS was rampant.
We have all longed to go backwards. I remember after I quit a job where I was expected to work 70 hour work weeks, sitting on the side of my bed missing the money I made. The Lord spoke to me through a Billy Joel song. He said, “The good old days weren’t always good and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.”
If we spend all of our time longing for what we had, we will be like the children of Israel. Roaming around a mountain for forty years and never entering our promise land.
Let’s take our eyes off our past and look towards our future. Let’s move forward. Let us trust God with our future. He has something better for us than we can ask think or imagine.
For me, loosing that financial security was difficult but God delivered us and gave us something so much better. He gave us provision, peace of mind and a job I love where I could spend time with my kids. He had a better plan.
Friends, yesterday wasn’t all good. Your tomorrow is better than you can imagine! Trust him.
“The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!””
Numbers 11:4-6 NIV