The Good Old Days-Devotions with Dienece

I don't know how many times in my youth I heard someone talk about, "The good old days." Now that I'm older, I fondly remember the 'good old days' myself.

Then I read a verse, and it puzzled me.

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this. Ecc. 7:10 KJV

Now, I was rather perplexed at that. Why should I not ask why the old days were better? Are we not doomed to repeat our past if we don't learn from it?

To be honest, I'm not sure I fully understand this concept, but here are some points I came to.

1. You cannot be content with such things as you have, if you are bemoaning what you used to have.

I mean, the point of reminiscing about the good old days is because the person usually thinks the present is terrible. That's not rejoicing in all things or being content.

2. We cannot be productive if we are stuck with our heads in the past.

Have you watched Frozen 2? The character Elsa dives into a lake to discover the memories of what went wrong in their past. Only, she stays down there too long and is frozen in the past.

How many people dig into history and get so lost in the past they forget to live now? As a historical romance writer, this is especially true for me. But we can do it with our memories too.

3. The ‘good old days’ were not actually better.

The worldly proverb which says we're doomed to repeat our mistakes if we don't learn from them implies that the person views the past as bad. Our verse in Ecc. indicates that the person thinks the past was better. These are two very different ways of looking at the past. The first way looks at it realistically and learns from past mistakes, and the other dons rose tinted glasses glossing over or not even acknowledging past mistakes.

We often glorify the past, and it is not wise to think that the past was better. The good old days were in fact not so good. Why?

The problems of today began yesterday.

'For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.' Ecc. 7:20

You can’t find yourself on the wrong side of a mountain without having taken several wrong steps while you were on the right side. That is why it is not wise to think the former times were better, because they weren't. If you look back, do so without the rose-tinted glasses.

4. You cannot look backwards and expect to walk a straight-line forward.

When learning to drive, I had the most unfortunate habit of turning the wheel whichever direction I happened to be looking. Which was fine as long as I looked forwards. Not so good when I looked over my shoulder to merge in traffic. Ek! I got better at it (obviously, I passed my driver's test), but I think we can all agree that it is not a safe to be looking behind too often.

The same is true for our lives. We ought to spend most of our time facing forwards and only glance back upon occasions. Otherwise, you'll find yourself in a mess.

Well, that concludes my thoughts on this verse.

What do you think Solomon meant when he said we are not wise to ask the cause of the former days being better?

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