Remembering Things Better Than They Were

There are so many rich nuggets in my current Bible study (No Other Gods) that my mind is swarming. One day in particular this week jumped off the pages at me because I've done this more times than I care to count. Even right now to a lesser degree than I have in the past.

We were looking at Numbers 11:5 where the Israelites remembered "the fish we ate in Egypt--at no cost--and the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic." (emphasis mine) Now, I already knew that wasn't the case but I reviewed the next set of scriptures anyway. Why do a Bible study if I'm not going to do it completely?

So, we looked at Exodus 1:11-16 and 2:23-25. Here are a few words & phrases describing their true situation in Egypt: slave masters were put over them; forced labor; oppression; hard labor; worked ruthlessly; slavery; midwives were told to kill their sons; groaning; crying. Here's the question - were all the good things they ate in Egypt really at no cost? Not hardly.

This is why it hit me between the eyes. There are some time periods in my life I look back on with great longing. They were the times, if you know what I mean. Here's a couple of examples...we loved our time with the Marine Corps. It was supposed to be forever. Life was easy, financially we had more than we needed. If we really wanted something, we just bought it. I didn't have to work. We had position and respect. I had fun girls to be around. I got to volunteer, go to the beach, go shopping, whatever. It was nirvana. But in reality? We weren't walking with God, we weren't plugged in with local believers (this bit me in the backside during a time of real need), we had one of the greatest bouts of sadness of our lives during this time...not to mention it was always hot and humid. Obviously the biggest sorrow here is that we were running from God.

But see how easy it is to look at that experience through rose colored glasses? On one hand I truly had everything I wanted from a human standpoint. But it was the darkest spiritual time of my entire life. Yet I've longed for it. Isn't that crazy? My memories are really better than the true reality.

I've got a few other times like that too so I've spent some time this week being super honest about both sides of those better-than-life time periods. Yes, they have all had great things associated. But they also had some not so great, even bad things tied in there too. That's life. In 5 years I'll look back and see the same things about where we are now.

The challenge in all this is not to idolize any particular time period but be grateful that I had the opportunities I did because God used them to make me who I am. If I live in the "what was" or "what I wish were right now" type of mentality, I will miss the very things that are amazing about where I am now and I'll live in a perpetual state of regret. I know for sure I don't want that.

And I certainly don't want to long for any time when I was in deep captivity, being treated ruthlessly by the enemy.