No Future In The Past
Ronia is a community midwife in South Birmingham
Numbers 11:4-6 (NLT) —
‘Then the crowd who were travelling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel began to complain. 'Oh for some meat!' they exclaimed. 'We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna.’
I absolutely love this passage - it makes me chuckle every time! The Israelites, rescued from their days of slavery in Egypt, were being led by God to their promised land. The only problem was that they had become a little bit weary of this long journey and the monotonous food on offer. Manna was the miraculous food provided daily: ordinary and bland maybe, but it represented God’s goodness, provision and faithfulness.
Now let me admit that I am a big foodie. I appreciate really good food. By now everybody should know prawns are my favourite thing to eat. But I'd like to believe that I would sacrifice my beloved prawns for manna if it meant God was leading me to my promised land!
God is in the business of taking us out of our past to move us into our future. He wants to move us out of bondage and slavery into freedom and the 'more' that he has for us.
We cannot compare our God-given future to the past he has rescued us from. The Israelites were glamourising memories of their past life. 'Oh for some meat!' they exclaimed.
They had forgotten that that 'meat' had come at a cost - slavery in Egypt. Let us not glamourise those former pleasures that made us appear free but actually kept us in bondage. No, we have no future in our past.
God is leading me and you into our promised land. I want to encourage you - do not despise your manna days: the ordinary days. Don’t let these days make you believe that your past is more appealing. God is guiding you to the promised land, no matter how mundane the present may look.
Let the manna remind you that our God is good and faithful towards the plans he has for you.
PRAYER — Father God, we thank you that, for each and every one of us, there is a plan and purpose for our lives. We thank you that you have brought us into freedom and continue to lead us into our promised land.
Lord, please continue to strengthen us as we walk with you in our manna days.