“Then the Israelite overseers came and cried out to Pharaoh, ‘Why are you doing this to your servants? No straw is given to your servants, yet they tell us, “Make bricks!” Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.'” (Exodus 5:15-16 EHV)
Nostalgia is a very powerful influence these days. You can tell it is from trends like live-action remakes of childhood cartoons. Fashion trends like the iconic mullet hairstyle have come full circle again. Even vinyl records are in vogue once more. It would seem that current economic conditions, political unrest, and world events have most people longing for the “good ol’ days.”
Do you know what is described for us in the Scripture text you just read? The “good ol’ days”! At least, this was the life that Israel looked back on yearningly in Numbers 11:5-6. The people said, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our lives are wasting away. We have nothing at all to look at except this manna.” (EHV) This is how Israel remembered what we have recorded in Exodus 5. They couldn’t remember the back-breaking labor, the spirit-breaking expectations, and the heartbreaking beatings they endured in response to Moses’ demand that Pharaoh release Israel. Only two years after the Exodus with baskets full of manna and heads full of nostalgia, the name “Egypt” made them salivate for melons and garlic.
You see, it wasn’t that Egypt really was a land of milk and honey as they remembered. Israel was simply discontented with their current circumstances. And we all too often fall into the same tendency. For all the problems and worries of today, we will in all likelihood peer back at 2026 with fondness one day. But the reality is that the days of yore were not nearly as dandy as we recall them through our rose-tinted glasses.
Bricks Without Straw
Our grim perception of the current state of things isn’t evidence that God has withdrawn His favor—it is evidence of our lack of contentment. But not only that, it’s an opportunity to praise our gracious God who provides for us in every circumstance just as he did for Paul, who wrote in Philippians 4 while under house arrest, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, while being full or hungry, while having plenty or not enough. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” (4:12-13 EHV)
The Apostle says that he learned this ability by enduring hardship by the grace and help of God. He learned to trust in the providence of the Almighty by remembering how He provided His only-begotten Son as the sacrifice for the sins of the world. The strength granted the believing Christian through Christ’s redemption led Paul to ask a very important question in Romans 8:32: “Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?” (EHV)
The path to contentment isn’t found by longing for the melons and garlic of yesterday. It’s found by praising God in whatever circumstances you find yourself, confident that His redeeming love has led you to bear the cross of today for the strengthening of your faith and the glory of His Name as you look ahead to a heavenly forever in Christ Jesus. “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)
is a pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.