Mtr Beth Clarke

Beloved in Christ,

Were the “good old days always” so good?

In times of transition and frustration, it is easy to long for the “good old days.” A longing for what we know can become a desire for the past, tinted by nostalgia, as our imaginations construct a record of events based in truth, yet not fully accurate.

In Numbers 11: 1-23, we meet the Israelites in exactly this predicament. After God miraculously brings his people out of Egypt, they find themselves in the desert, living into all that being in the wilderness means.

The manna that was once a welcome God-send has become common and unsatisfying. Scripture details how manna is like a coriander seed, or resin, and it must be ground to make breads and cakes—it’s no easy process.

As their time captive fades into shared history, memories of meat, melon, leeks, and garlic bubble to the surface. The Israelites wax poetic about a “better time,” seeming to forget that that “better time” was one without freedom in God.

Frustration born of nostalgia is laid before Moses as a litany of complaints. And Moses is not too happy about it. In Numbers, the biblical writer recounts a truly intimate conversation between Moses and God as Moses complains about the complaints. With dramatic flair, Moses wishes for death as an alternative to hearing his people’s incessant complaints.

God responds to Moses’ woes with a promise of more dispersed responsibility and meat—so much meat it will come out of their noses! 

This somewhat humorous exchange reminds us that transition, being on the way to something new, often requires a period of challenging change and uncertainty. The Israelites in the wilderness are being formed as God’s chosen people. Becoming beloved community takes time, guidance, patience, and hope for a better future.

While we should not with broad strokes condemn the past, the Israelites’ ordeal reminds us to avoid over-romanticizing it as well. Gratitude for past blessings is holy, but so is seeing God’s grace in our present and in living with hopeful expectation for the future.

The “good old days” may have been good, but, by the grace of God, perhaps the future is even better.

Yours in Christ,

—Mtr Beth