"The Good Old Days"

Lately, I have been reflecting on the often sinful manifestations of our discontent. In particular, when we idealize and glorify "the good old days". Ecclesiastes 7:10 instructs us:
Do not say, "Why is it that the former days were better than these?"
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

In the face of calamity, our faith is shaken and tested. We may question God as Job did. Or wallow in despair. Realism is hastily dropped to the wayside as we grasp for our idol du jour.

Commonly, we will either seek solace in future longings or in reminiscing what once was. Idolizing the past is especially insidious. After all, we aren’t petitioning God for some future of our own concoction. We simply want things to go back to the way they were.

Desperately fishing in the pond of the past, and withholding joy until the future becomes agreeable to us, are two sides of the same idolatrous coin. May God grant us wisdom, and dispel our unbelief.