Rose Colored Glasses February Devotional – Exodus 16:3 “Ah, the good old days, when life was easy, stress levels were low, and my biggest problem was figuring out what to have for dinner.” Have you ever reminisced like that? I imagine we have all looked back on a simpler time in our lives with a longing to return to it – perhaps not to that specific season, but to the ease of life we experienced. It’s probably a good thing we can’t relive that time, or bring those circumstances to our present, because it might not have been as good as we remembered it to be. Think about it: when was your world ever perfect? We can see children running around in the park seemingly without a care in the world: no bills to pay, no retirement to consider, no life altering decisions to make. That’s the life… or is it? Think back to when you were in elementary school – really try to remember. There was homework that needed to be done; that boy who would always pick on you; the times you had no one to sit with at lunch; the book report you forgot was due today. Although it’s true that those issues don’t compare with the ones we face as adults, they feel as significant, frustrating and frightening to them as ours do to us. When we look back to earlier days, we tend to see them through rose colored glasses, where everything ran smoothly and nothing seemed to weigh us down… but those days never truly existed.
The book of Exodus begins with the oppression of the Jews into slavery. When Moses came into the picture with God’s decree to Pharaoh to let His people go, things got much worse. They then faced the ten plagues of judgment that came upon Egypt. Even though the Jews’ land of Goshen was spared some of them, they could see the devastation going on around them which would have been unsettling at best. Finally, they were freed from their slavery and left with riches untold, as they headed to the Promised Land. Life was good… until the food they had brought with them from Egypt ran out. Now, I can see why they would cry out to the Lord because they were hungry, but look at their reaction: “If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted…" (Exodus 16:3).
Seriously? Were things really that good in Egypt? When we look back on “better days” they are often years, perhaps decades removed from where we find ourselves but for the Israelites, it had only been one month since they left the land that enslaved them. One month, and they were already romanticizing their days of bondage. Regardless of the time frame, we tend to do the very same thing.
Now you might be thinking, “What’s wrong with looking back and only seeing the bright things?” and in some circumstances, I would agree. It’s fun to remember the vacations we took as children or the honors we received at school; the picture we painted that our teacher proudly displayed or the time we scored the winning goal in a soccer game. If we are glancing back nostalgically, it is fine to gloss over the tough times and I believe it is God’s grace that allows us to primarily remember the good. If, however, we are looking back longingly, wishing our life could be like that again, then it is dangerous. First of all, we are believing the lie that everything was perfect back then and could be again. Second, it causes us to take our eyes off the Lord and miss out on all the things He is trying to teach us and accomplish through us in the difficult times. We need to move ahead not go backwards and who knows – there may be a day when we look back on the time we are in right now as the best ever. Let’s purpose to keep God in the forefront of our lives and not waste today idealizing our yesterdays.
Give us today our daily bread. … But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness…. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Matthew 6:11; Hebrews 3:13, 13:8)
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