I came across Israel’s nostalgic lament three verses into my Bible reading this morning.
“If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.” (Exodus 16:3, NLT)
Nostalgia, the “good old days,” how things used to be, oh, how these are deceitful friends! Why? Because they don’t tell the whole story. The Egyptian diet is not the whole story; what about their slavery?
The truth is God’s goodness follows us all the time and in every decade and generation. “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6, NLT) But times were better back then; they were simpler and happier. No, not really! God’s grace and goodness are as powerful now as they were then. “For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.” (Psalm 100:5, NLT)
Does God still love us? Yes! Is God still helping us? Yes! Is God still showing Himself mighty in our lives? Yes! Does God still have a good plan and expected end for our lives? Yes! Can we still see God’s salvation in our day? Yes! Well, then, today and tomorrow are full of promise! And those good old days, don’t believe the hype. Let’s look for the new thing that God is doing today!
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19, NLT)