AGING

I Was Just Thinking About – AGING.

As one gets older (or more mature), it can be marked by a spirit of gracefulness and graciousness, or it can be approached with gripes, complaints and bitterness. One of the realities of aging is that being able to remember oftentimes begins to wane. Facts and information that once was at one’s fingertips now requires more thought and attempts at trying to recall. 

With the aging realities, two passages of God’s Word often come to mind. The first is a Prayer of Moses – Psalm 90:10-14 (ESV), where he reflects: “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…So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom…Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

A subtlety with aging is that one still feels as though he/she is younger in spirit and remaining able to do that which one did thirty of forty years earlier. The reality that sinks in is that stamina is much less and strength has diminished.

The second passage on aging is Psalm 37:3-7, 23-26 (ESV) where David shares: “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices…The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.”

James 4:13-15 reminds of the brevity of life: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit. You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” Should one fear or dread aging? Proverbs 16:31 reminds us that: “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.” Always remember and claim the Asher Blessing in Deuteronomy 33:25, “As your days, so shall your strength be.” You who are aging, be encouraged and remember that the Lord is always faithful. “Those who honor Him, He will honor and strengthen” (I Samuel 2:30).

Prayerfully – consider these things with me.