Looking Back Can Cause Us to Resent the Blessing of Today

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! Numbers 11:5-6, NLT

^{It is easy to get caught up looking at our past through rose colored glasses. We negate and forget the hardships that existed. In a way this is a blessing, but it can also become a trap. Looking back can cause us to resent the blessing of today.} 

Developing a Perception that  God is Unfair

Let’s face it. After a loss, there is a season of hard. Grief sucks in so many ways! If we look at our past through rose colored glasses, we can feel as if God has rejected us and brought us to a terrible place just to abandon us. That is what happened to the children of Israel.

Forgetting the Struggles of Our Prior Life

They lost sight that they had been slaves. Their captors murdered their children. They were forced to work long, hard hours and brutalized at the hand of Egypt. Fast forward a year or so and it seems they have completely forgotten the hardships the Lord brought them out of.

Fantasizing the Past Caused Resentment in Their Present

As they fantasized their past, they criminalized God in their present. God had worked mighty miracles on their behalf. The ocean split in half for them to walk across on dry land for crying out loud–yet on THIS day, all they could see is how God had been unfair to them. They longed for the life they had before, ignoring the hardships that were associated with it as well as the blessings and provision associated with their new life.

Do You Have “Rose Colored Glasses” Syndrome?

As you look back at your past, do you fantasize it? How does that make you feel about the painful part of your present? It is natural to long for the person, job, dream (fill in your loss here) that you lost. It is so hard to view the past as it authentically was. It is equally hard to view our today as it authentically is.

God’s Provision

There is manna, God’s perfect provision, for you in this season of life. Guard your heart and mind because the enemy wants to taint your view of that goodness. He wants you to see God’s sustaining provision as a deficit. God does not work on deficits. He is with you. God has not abandoned you. The Lord is providing for you. It may not be in ways that you want. It may require something of you that you don’t really want to do. Just because it doesn’t look how you want it to look doesn’t mean its not there.

This post is part of a 31 day series on Hope for Grieving Hearts. To see all of the posts in this series, click the button below. Thank you for reading. I hope you are blessed and encouraged.