Lamentations 5:21 Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

Here is a sad truth of which our human condition fails to realize our own attitudes and actions. We want restoration to the good old days and expect God to do it for us. This is evident in the first words of the line, turn us, we will not do it ourselves, you will have to do it for us.

I hear it in so many prayers these days, “turn the hearts of your people”. “Restore in us a right heart.” “If your people will hearken to your voice.” All those prayers have one thing in common, seeking the good old days rather than looking to see what God is doing today.

It is always easier to look back on what was good and beg for that, then to look forward to the unknown and trust God for the results. It is real hard to look forward and see that evil is all around us and trust a God that might only say go, with no promise of ease and comfort. That is why we want time to reverse and restore the good old days. Heaven forbid I might have to actually do something.

Moses led the children out of Egypt and not so long after crossing thru the sea they began looking back on the good old days, in bondage.

Numbers 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:

It is worthy of noting that this generation died in the wilderness before Israel moved into the land of promise, all because they sought the good old days and not what lay ahead.

Revelation 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

My excuse for missing it is that I do not frequent the book of Revelation. There are without doubt many mysteries to be discovered within the bible and most of them I find in the New Testament. It is there that I find help in my present condition. I also find marvelous help in the Old Testament which is replete in sound counsel, wisdom and historical resonance.

So what did I miss in Revelation 22:2 that I recently unearthed even though I have read this passage perhaps twenty time or more over the years? Maybe you missed it too. If you didn’t praise God but I am curious as to what the meaning of it did to you as a fellow believer. Ultimately how the scriptures affect you in life and living is the most important detail.

I missed nations. I was focused so strongly on the tree of life, the fruit born, the seasons of birthing, the distribution of fruit, that I totally missed the issue of the nations. This is a hint in the order of glory, to be under the Son, with the Father and totally and fully aware of His glory, majesty ad power. Even when I think in these terms the issues of nations fades in importance. Yet there it is, in the resurrected realm, in that life of perfection, and incorruptible condition, nations.

To be totally honest with you I have just begun to explore the possibilities of what that might mean and how it could be viewed in context of being present in that place. Here I sit, in the worldly realm of nations and can only relate to that time, that place, that order of His will, and view it by my failed weak imagination. The vanity of vanities is to think that nations will still mean the same thing there as it does here on this earth.

The fact that I missed the word in so many readings of that scripture should warn me not to assume I have the wherewithal to comprehend with more than a dim glimpse all that lays waiting for us there. No matter how learned I believe I am, no matter how well versed, no matter how much insight I have into the present mysteries, I pale in performance to that which is yet to come.