The Good Old Days

Job 29:2, 18
(2) Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
(18) Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

You cannot blame Job for longing for his glory days. His suffering was deep. If Job’s circumstances teach us anything it’s that change is the only constant in life. When God saved us, He gave us the blessing of eternal life and the sure hope of a home in heaven. What He did not promise us is a bubble of protection from the difficulties of this life. Walking according to His truth certainly brings His blessings, but God did not remove us from this world or its troubles when He saved us. He left us here to be testimonies of His grace. He allows us to face the same troubles that the rest of the world must face. What He expects is that we show a lost and dying world what a difference Christ makes. Of course, we feel the hurts that come our way and of course when we are hurting we long for the “good old days,” but whether under blessing or under hardship, the stabilizing force that the world needs to see in us is the everlasting joy we have in the Lord.

The days of Job’s prosperity were wonderful and no one can blame him for wanting those days to last his whole life. We all long for that. But the days of Job’s prosperity were fleeting. Many of us can look back on when things were so much better than they are now. They seem so long ago and they seem to have vanished so quickly. But the same can be said about the troubles we face. It might feel as though our present troubles will last forever, but difficult days are as fleeting as days of blessing. They will not last forever and the great truth for all believers is that one day there is coming a time when our troubles will be no more. So sure is that truth that we can say with Paul even in this life: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

When Job’s fortunes finally did take a turn for the better, he could rejoice in them, but because of his hardships, he came out with something far better than his blessings. He came through his hardships with a better understanding of his God and he learned that that understanding could carry him through anything.

[ Photo by Michał Bielejewski on Unsplash ]