Reminiscence
= noun (rem-i-nis-cence) recall to
mind of a long-forgotten experience or fact, the process or practice of
thinking or telling about past experiences
I
have a friend who attends my church.
She graduated from the same High School as I did but we did not know
each other during high school. As we got to know each other we started
comparing our high school experiences, people we both knew, things we did and
such. After remembering and laughing about things as our clothes and hair
styles (I wore my hair in “candlesticks” and she in a huge "Afro") I came home
and dug out my High School annuals. I
remember friends from back in those days as I saw their photos and read what
they wrote when they signed them. I
looked back on those days fondly. Were
they all completely happy days? Of
course not, but right now, looking at my annuals I cannot remember a bad or sad
time. Why is it when we are remembering
the things of the past we remember the good times and tend to forget the bad?
Reminiscing
about my school days brought to mind another situation where people were
looking back to their past and not remembering the bad things in Numbers 13 and
14.
“All the Israelites grumbled and
deplored their situation, accusing Moses and Aaron, to whom the whole
congregation said, Would that we had died in Egypt! Or that we had died in this
wilderness! Why does the Lord bring us
to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be a prey. Is
it not better for us to return to Egypt?” Numbers 14:2-3 AMP
The
Israelites were not happy with their situation.
For a number of years they traveled hundreds of miles, endured
restricted diets and worried about lack of water, all for the promise of a land
of their dreams they could call their own.
When they arrived Moses sent out scouts (one male leader from each
tribe), and they found the land rich and productive, bringing back clusters of
grapes as proof. Yet they also brought
back reports of fortified cities and giants.
They told how the warlike peoples of Amalek, Hittites, Jebusites, and
Amorites lived there. The scouts’
reports raised fear in the Israelite camp as fast as a flash flood. How quickly the Israelites forgot God’s power
to help them. What was their response to
that fear? Return to Egypt!
“And they said one to another, Let us
choose a captain and return to Egypt.” Numbers 14:4 AMP
Did
they want to return to the slavery they were born into? Did they want to return to the beatings,
starvation and abuse they had endured since birth? I am sure they did not, but like all men in
the face of fear they did not remember the bad things of the past. They forgot that God had delivered them again
and again. They lacked the courage God
was extending to them if only they would reach out in faith to receive it. Two men did reach out and grasp that courage:
“And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son
of Jephunneh, who were among the scouts who had searched the land rent their
clothes, and they said to all the company of Israelites, The land through which
we passed as scouts is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will
bring us into this land and give it to us…Only do not rebel against the Lord,
neither fear the people of the land for they are bread for us. Their defense and the shadow of protection is
removed from over them, but the Lord is with us. Fear them not.” Numbers 14:4 AMP
Just
think: if the Israelites had chosen to
trust in God and listen to Joshua and Caleb they too would have grasped that
courage, conquered the land and lived in its abundance within that year, but
they did not. They let fear reign in
their minds and hearts. God surely makes
all the difference between cowards and Calebs!
Because
of their faith and God given courage Joshua and Caleb survived another twenty
years in the wilderness while all the other Israelites died. Joshua and Caleb returned and finally entered
their promised land and conquered their enemies with the power of the Lord. After the Lord had given the Israelites rest
from all their enemies and Joshua had grown old he spoke a prophecy to the
Israelites (Joshua 24:2-15) ending with the familiar saying we have all heard, “As for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord.”
As
I reminisce about the past I am reminded that it was during my high school days
that I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord.
My life started changing from that night on October 30, 1973. The journey to my “promised land” had
begun. Have I always reached out in
faith for the courage God extends to help me move on in His strength? As I reflect on the past 39 years, in an honest searching fearless moral
inventory, I have not. There have
been times when I wished I could go back to what I remembered as easier
times. But instead of trying to go back
I asked God’s forgiveness, let Him pick me back up and started onward. I, like Joshua, have responded to the call of
faithfulness and have chosen to serve the Lord.
My journey has been long and although at times I stumble the Lord has
always been there to pick me up, strengthen and encourage me. In my mind’s eye I can envision my “promised
land” where I will be able to stand before my Lord, face to face, beholding Him
in all His glory and splendor then falling to my knees full of thanksgiving and
praise. What an adventure this walk with
the Lord is!
“Yet, my brothers, I do not consider
myself to have “arrived”, spiritually, nor do I consider myself already
perfect. But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which
Christ grasped me. My brothers, I do not consider myself to have fully grasped
it even now. But I do concentrate on
this: I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies
ahead I go straight for the goal—my reward the honour of being called by God in
Christ.” Phil. 3:13 (JB Phillips Translation)
