In the good old days....

　

When were they? Was is the 1930s, the 40s, the 80s? Each generation has its own idea about when the good old days were. Today may be the good old days to my grandchildren.

What makes the good old days good anyhow? Is it a time when people were somehow better? Is it when we were younger, does youth make the days better somehow? Did grim economic conditions make the days good, or is it a flourishing economy that does it? Was it because religion was more fashionable, when people were more churched?

Job longed for the good old days. “How I long for months gone by….oh for the days when I was in my prime” (Job 25:2-5 NIV).

Wise old Solomon said not to wish for them, “Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions.” (Ecc. 7:10 NIV)


I read an old oriental proverb, “Many say, This is a corrupt age. This mode of speaking is not just, it is not the age that is corrupt, but the men of the age.”
I wonder that there were never any good old days. Man has always been sinful. Since the catastrophe in the garden, obeying God has been an unfashionable thing. Godliness makes a little come back here and there, usually when things are the hardest. Then it seems to go out of style again.

I think back over my 50+ years and realize there were many good old days. But I purpose to live in this day. Today is a good day. It is the only one I have.