Job 29

Was Job wrong to long for the days before tragedy struck? He had been wealthy, respected, and revered. He’d been healthy and happy. Now, after losing it all he wished he could go back when life was easy and all his children were around him. Who wouldn’t?

Sometimes I think how nice it would be to go back to my childhood, in our comfortable home, hanging out with my little sisters. It was a time when our parents worried about paying the bills, putting food on the table, the need of a newer car… and I never gave those things a thought.

It was a time when my parents went to work, and we went outside to play.Oh, there were awful things happening in the world at that time. But our parents protected us from the worry of most of it.

I don’t think it’s wrong to look back. In fact, memory is a blessing to encourage us, teach us, comfort us, and to challenge us to do better and be better. But don’t live in the past.

Longing for the good old days shouldn’t prevent us from living today. We can’t go back. Those days are gone and will never return. But we have today.

We have today to do better and be better, to be nurturing a relationship with the LORD and being His servant. We have today to grow, and to represent Jesus to our neighbors and friends.

In fact, Paul tells us his philosophy:

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.(Philippians 3:13b-14)

Someday, years from now, someone is going to long for life the way it was in 2022. Maybe they’ll be remembering the day you introduced them to their Savior.