Good ‘Ole Days

Sit around and listen to a group of people older than yourself for very long and you’ll hear them talk about the “Good ‘ole days!” I always wonder if it really was that good, or was it the way they remembered it. Could they have forgotten the bad part and only remembered the good?

Last Sunday afternoon, I was listening to my husband give a devotion at Autumn Place after singing a few hymns to them. As he read in Numbers 11 about the Israelites complaining already, something jumped out at me.  They were in the desert after crossing the Red Sea so miraculously.  God fed them every morning with manna, His own special creation which fell from heaven daily, yet that wasn’t good enough. No, they wanted meat. Oh, how I wish I could eat perfectly nutritious food without having to cook or do dishes. And, talk about fast food.

Then, my chin dropped as he read these words from verse five, “We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely…

Woah! I think I just heard them refer to their days of slavery in Egypt as the “Good ‘ole days.” Let’s think about this for a minute. These Israelites had been whining and complaining to God for 400 years about being in bondage. God heard their prayers, though, and sent Moses to speak to Pharoah. Ten plagues later, Pharoah set them free. The Egyptians even gave them their jewelry and off the Israelites went. However, Pharoah changed his mind. His army chased after the Israelites. With the Red Sea in front of them and the army behind, God separated the waters and let them walk through on dry ground. If that wasn’t enough, God destroyed their enemies and let them arrive in safety on the other side.

So, basically, the Israelites are complaining about the nice food given by God because they miss the fish, leeks, and garlic they were given freely in Egypt.

Really?

Was this food free, or did they pay a cost?

Let’s see…the meat might have been free, but didn’t they toil in the hot sun making bricks? In fact, a higher quota was given and they had to find their own materials to make the bricks…but it was FREE!
 Sounds like a good trade to me. They only paid in sweat and tears.

 All complaints about being slaves had been forgotten.

Isn’t that how we are today? We complain about the way God answers our prayers and His gifts while recalling a fond memory the size of a grain of sand surrounded by a tidal wave of bad. We’re so focused on the good grain of sand that we’re blind to the tidal wave calling it the “Good ‘ole days!”

Next time we talk about the “Good ‘ole days,” we might want to make sure we’re seeing  the whole picture before celebrating .

Do you agree we do this today?

Why or why not?

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