LISTEN ONLINEIn the 2020s, a married couple in their twenties are living as though they are in the 1940s. Their furniture, clothes and car are all from that period, and they embrace the lifestyle, eschewing modern technology, playing board games and attending 1940s dances at the weekend. They were attracted to that “simple life”, they explained. But of course, this isn’t the authentic 1940s experience, because the real 1940s were dominated by the atrocious Second World War.
The Israelites similarly had selective memories. In the wilderness, they became bored of the manna (Numbers 11:6–9). They began moaning about the absence of meat and fish with a mournful yet specific list of delicious vegetables they remembered fondly from Egypt: “the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic” (v. 5). Astonishingly, they forgot the horrors of slavery. Even when they were on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, they were ready to march right back to Egypt (14:4).
When I encounter tough seasons, I tend to look back longingly with rose-tinted spectacles, forgetting the negatives. We remember Egypt without the slavery. But in the desert, God guided the Israelites by fire and cloud, gave them sufficient manna and guaranteed a future land of milk and honey. Whenever we find life hard, instead of looking back, we can cling to God’s guidance and provision in our present, and trust in God’s promise of a good future.