Many of us have attacks of nostalgia when we remember past experiences. Sometimes our memories are a bit distorted by the passing of time. Without even meaning to do so, we may change our feelings, even about painful events. This can be an advantage when we understand a past event from a new perspective. Our earlier experience may be modified by our later insight and maturity. It can at times be the path to forgiveness when we see a past hurt in a new light.
At other times we may cast a halo over the past that does not match its reality. The touchy grandmother may become, in our memory, the beacon of warmth and affection. Sometimes “the good ol’ days” may be more a figment of our imagination than an actual reality.
Something similar happened to the people of Israel under Moses. God’s rescue of His people from their slavery in Egypt was a glorious tale of deliverance and joy, but those forty years of wilderness wandering caused them to look back at the time in Egypt with nostalgia. They complained to Moses remembering the leeks and garlic that they had eaten in Egypt and were dissatisfied with the ”boring manna”. They had forgotten the slavery, oppression, and horror, and dreamed of the “good ol’ days” in Egypt. Let us not forget…their warped nostalgia cost them the Promised Land!