Looking back to Egypt

“The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.’” Numbers 11:4-5
Time and time again in the wilderness we see the people complaining about something. It’s interesting to note where the source of the complaint came from on this occasion (which led to God providing quail for the people). It was started by ‘the rabble’ travelling with the children of Israel. These were Gentiles who had joined them either from Egypt or along the way (see Ex. 12:37-38). But their attitude spread through the whole community.
They started looking back to Egypt as being ‘the good old days’, thinking back to the wonderful food that was available to them there. But we know that it was not wonderful at all. The Israelites were oppressed as slaves, forced to make bricks for building various cities for Pharaoh, then having their raw materials no longer supplied to them – it was a miserable existence. How quickly we forget the misery of the past.
Spiritually, the land of Egypt is a picture of the unregenerate world. “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived” (Col. 3:7). But now God has redeemed us from the rut of sin, and called us to journey with Him to the Promised Land. We will all go through some wilderness experience on our way to full Christian maturity and the abundant spiritual life led by the Holy Spirit. And in that time, it may sometimes be tempting to throw in the towel and go back to our old ways in Egypt. But we forget just how bad that life was – the emptiness of not knowing God, the futility of life. Don’t let other people, who aren’t part of the family of God, entice you back. Keep pressing on in the Lord.