Do you remember the good old days?
Like back when we could give handshakes
and hugs and there weren't any face masks and
no closures and we didn't have to be six feet apart?
Oh, the good old days when we could
do things together.
Those were the good old days.
Maybe for you, even before covid,
you could think back to the good old days.
Like, I think back to high school
where I could hang out with my friends.
We could do things, we played sports together.
My high school was small enough
where I could be a part of anything I wanted to
and life just seemed simpler.
When were the good old days for you?
Do you go back to a certain decade?
Do you go back to high school?
Do you go back to college?
Like, when were the ideal
good old days that you just wish you could go back to?
Well, today as we continue talking about
what life is like wandering
and how to navigate through it,
there's something I want you to know about the good old days.
If you find yourself
looking back at the good old days and longing for them,
there's two things you should be aware of.
Number one, the good old days were hard.
There were things that you had to learn
and navigate through.
There were problems that you needed to figure out.
They had their own challenges.
But maybe the thing that we like about the good old days
is that we learned the lessons
that they had to teach us.
And we navigated our way through them
so that we could at least
make sense of life and figure out our place in it.
The second thing we need to be aware of,
of longing for the good old days,
is that the door to those days is closed.
Those days are in the past
and there's no way that we can return to them.
I think this is valuable for us to talk about
because when it comes to wandering through
uncertain times like all of us are doing right now,
we have to be aware that longing for
days that are past
will not help us escape from our wandering in the present.
This was a lesson that the Israelite people had to learn back when they were wandering
in the wilderness for 40 years.
They had to learn this difficult lesson
that longing for the past would not allow them
to escape from their wandering in the present.
I want to share with you a quick reading here that
illustrates what it was like for them
as they were growing uncertain
and afraid during their time of wandering.
Today's reading is from Exodus, chapter 16,
when the people were getting hungry
and they were starting to rebel.
It says:
Those were some pretty charged words
and lots of emotion behind them.
In that moment they were longing
for the good old days in Egypt
which, by the way, were not very good.
But at least in Egypt, the Israelites knew what to expect.
They knew where their food would come from.
And there were things that they didn't have to figure out.
Now as they enter into the wandering,
they're realizing that the good old days are behind them.
And they don't have the faith
to be able to navigate
how God would take care of them.
This is something that we still see today
when we enter into a new wandering where everything
is new, everything is changed.
What we so desperately want is to just to go back
to the good old days
where, maybe life wasn't perfect,
but at least it was predictable.
And we learned how to navigate it.
But that door is closed.
We no longer have – no matter how much we
long for those days in the past,
we still won't be free from our uncertainties
in our present wandering.
So the concept or the principle that I want to share with you today
as we continue talking about life in the wandering and how to
navigate through it,
is simply to illustrate for you a principle
that we learn from Jesus.
In fact, I don't even call it a principle so much as a truth
that you can anchor yourself to.
Just imagine who Jesus was and what he did.
He was the Son of God from all eternity.
Like, his home is heaven
in eternity with God.
It was a perfect place without any sin,
any wickedness, no uncertainty whatsoever.
But what did Jesus do, as you read through the Bible?
The account goes that Jesus, the Son of God became flesh.
He lived among us.
And if that were you,
you might be walking around on earth
thinking back to the good old days when
you were in heaven and how things were different,
but that was not what Jesus did at all.
Throughout the years of his life Jesus did not say,
"Oh, I remember the good old days in heaven.
I wish I could go back there."
No, he was not longing
for the good old days behind him.
He was pursuing the cross in front of him.
Imagine that.
All of the good things were behind him
and yet he pursued the one thing that was the
worst imaginable thing that any of us could possibly imagine.
A crucifixion, an execution.
So that he could be punished for people like me and you.
So that he could forgive us
of everything we've done.
Now, I know, with covid,
I wish we could go back before all of this happened.
I wish we could go back to the good old days because
I like to give people hugs.
I like hand shakes.
I like physical contact.
I like to be with people,
to some degree all of us do.
I wish we could go back to the good old days.
But at some point we have to acknowledge
that the door to those days is done.
It's closed.
And no matter how much we might long for those days, it will not
rescue us from the wandering that we're in.
But the promise of Jesus is simply this.
That even though the past is behind us,
the best is yet to come.
Just think about that for a moment.
Even though we are where we are,
wandering in all of this uncertainty,
the best is yet to come.
That means two things.
Number one, when Jesus came,
because of what he did,
he made it so that even when bad things happen,
even when we're in seasons of wandering,
God can use that and work it out for your good.
Maybe not your definition of good, but
God's definition of good.
And his promises that he will do that.
Right now, he's working things out
for the good of those who love him, who've been called
according to his purpose.
Things in this life.
The best is yet to come.
And also things for the life to come.
No matter how good this world gets,
no matter how great it is,
ultimately this world will always be broken.
This will always be a place of wandering.
And yet Jesus entered into that wandering for me and for you
so that he could rescue us from it.
So one day,
one day,
we won't look back at the past and say,
"Wow, the good old days.
I wish we could go back there."
One day we will be in the presence of God himself
celebrating his love and goodness.
Celebrating how was with us
throughout our years of wandering.
Celebrating life with him in heaven.
And because of that,
the best is yet to come.
Well, today we talked about how it can be unhealthy
to long for the days that are behind us.
But at the same time, I think it's good to thank God
for the blessings of the good times
that we've had in the past.
Is there a time that you can think back to
that was especially a blessing for you?
And maybe you're looking forward to doing that again once things return to a normal?
Share that in the comments with this video.
We, as a community, would love to celebrate that with you and have some fun with you.
Until then, can't wait to see you next time.