Aging with Grace

Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life. (Proverbs 16:31)

With both of my parents in their nineties and my father hospitalized for the last month, I have been drawn to Scriptures that speak particularly to those who are aged. Here is a selection to help those of us who have gray hairs today or who eventually will have them.

Examples of the elderly in Scripture:

Many of God’s servants are faithful to the end of their lives – and for some, their key role in biblical history takes place after they are advanced in years. These are great examples for us. Consider the lives of Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Samuel, Barzillai (2 Samuel 19), Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon, and Anna.

Others start well but are unfaithful in old age, serving as negative examples: consider especially Solomon (1 Kings 11) and Asa (2 Chronicles 16).

How can we be like the positive examples and unlike the negative? First, we must remember God’s promises. Here are six that are especially important to hold on to as we age:

First promise: “I will always carry you!”

Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. (Isaiah 46:3-4)

Second promise: “I will always lead you and guide you!”

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.  (Isaiah 42:16)

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-25)

Third promise: “My goodness and love will pursue you always!”

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23:6)

But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children (Psalm 103:17)

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

Fourth promise: “In Me, you will always bear fruit!”

The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Psalm 92:12-15)

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:3)

He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:8)

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

Fifth promise: “By My power, you can resist temptations – including those that are particular to old age”

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Sixth promise: “In eternity, you will have pleasures forevermore at My right hand”

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Corinthians 5:1)

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:10-11)

After remembering God’s promises, cry out to Him in dependence every day:

First: Cry out to see Him:

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

[We must] run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1b-2a NET)

Second: Pray: “Teach us to number our days and to be satisfied with your love”

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. (Psalm 90:10-14)

O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! (Psalm 39:4)

Third: Cry out asking Him to fulfill His promise to keep you and to use you to the end:

In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! …Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent…. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you…. O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. (Psalm 71:1, 5-6, 9, 17-18)

Fourth: “Sustain me as you sustained the Apostle Paul to the end”

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

May we all fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith, to God’s glory through the strength He supplies by His Spirit because of Jesus.

(Scriptures are ESV except where noted)

 

 

The Discipline of Daily Declarations

Psalm 92 declares that the righteous will “flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him” (Psalm 92:13b-15).

What leads to that type of flourishing – flourishing not for a day or a year or even a decade, but flourishing in delight in God, in proclaiming His goodness and His support, through the end of your life, even if you should live to 90 or 100? That is: What can you do today to bring about such flourishing many years in the future?

In Sunday’s sermon on this psalm we considered its exhortations to give thanks to God, to praise Him for His love and faithfulness and justice, to sing to Him, to recall His works, and to remember how far He is above us. Indeed, the psalmist tells us it is good to “declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night” (Psalm 92:2). That is, we should make such declarations at all times.

In summary, I suggested we consider doing so also in the morning and evening of our lives – when we are young and old. We thus can commit ourselves to the discipline of daily declarations – stating four reminders every day that encourage us to depend on Him and not on ourselves.

The following four declarations are based on Romans 11:33-36 as well as Psalm 92:

  • First: I can never be God’s counselor – His wisdom is far beyond me. So when oftentimes feeling as if I know better than God how to run the world, or my country, or my life, or the lives of my loved ones, I will humbly acknowledge that He is all wise, and I am not.
  • Second: Everything good in my life is mine only because of Jesus, for I deserve only condemnation. All of us from the time of Adam – except Jesus – do not deserve even to take a single breath. Apart from God’s plan of redemption through His Son, Adam and Eve would have died upon their rebellion against God. To live, to breath, to eat, to grow, to see God’s creation, to have any joy or pleasure – these are all undeserved gifts. And the greatest gift is to be welcomed into God’s intimate family through the sacrifice of Jesus. He is the source of all that is good, whether in us or around us.
  • Third: All those who seem to thrive by turning their backs on Jesus will perish. Though they may flourish for a while, God raises them up only to bring them down – either in this life or in eternity. This reminder guards me from self-pity and envy – what we have in Christ far outweighs any lack we may experience that comes from following Him – and prompts me to witness to His grace.
  • Fourth: I will flourish today and forever only by depending on Him – He is my rock. My task is to depend actively on Him, to turn to Him, to pray to Him, to remind myself of the promises that are all Yes in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). Apart from Him I can do nothing (John 15:5). This declaration helps protect me from self-righteousness and any sense of superiority over others. As the Apostle Paul says, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).

I encourage you to modify these or add to them to effectively fight the fight of faith, the fight to depend on God through Jesus. May we all endure in joy in the Lord to the end of this present life – whether that’s tomorrow, next year, or many decades in the future.