Graying Years

07.26.12

Isaiah 46.4 4 Even to your old age I will be the same,

And even to your graying years I will bear you!

I have done it, and I will carry you;

And I will bear you and I will deliver you. NASB

Maybe it’s because I have another birthday coming; maybe it’s because every time I turn around we feel the need to threaten Social Security recipients with the loss of their benefits in order to raise the national debt ceiling. I dunno, it sure seems like there is a part of me that wants to worry about the future – how will I live? How will I survive? Will I rot away in some institution? Will I have to eat cat food in order to live?

From cradle to grave there is the issue of survival and what do we do about food, clothing, and shelter in our older age? I must remember and read verses like this from time to time to remind myself that it was neither me who brought me here in the first place, nor is it me who will get me home: that’s God’s job. And if I think old age is a problem for me, now today in this country and with the resources I presently have, then I cannot imagine what goes on in third world countries or what took place in ancient days.

Man ages – there isn’t a one of us, even Dick Clark, who misses out on the fun of aging. I used to think age was so far away and eventually it would come upon me. Not anymore. Age has done, done its deal and it is here with me for good. Or maybe I should say forever. Aging is the reality of all mankind – man ages.

The question many face today is this: how will I get by in my older years and who will take care of me. Many are the sad-faced widows and widowers whose spouse has already departed. Many are the elderly who are infirm and what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work. Many are the older who are lonely, bored, or otherwise un-occupied and left to themselves because it seems society doesn’t need (or want) them anymore. Many are the adult children who are fit to be tied over the decline of their parents, or parent. Society has always seemed to understand that at some point one loses usefulness and is left to fend for himself.

And then many are those who are retired with pensions hoping and planning for a comfortable age when time will be their’s, and their troubles will be few, who have seen those pensions take wings and fly away right before their very eyes; the stock market crashed or the company disappeared. Many are those who get caught up in saving for tomorrow only to find tomorrow never came and all of their yesterday’s tell them they’ve lived all of their lives missing today.

What I needed to hear today in the narrative of my mind was this: Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you. I am not in charge of the aging process but I am in charge of who I trust and I trust in One who says He will bear me through my golden years…

Aging can either be a burden or a joy – it’s all in how I approach it. The servant of God – even to his dying breathe – can trust God to carry him through to the end despite what society around us thinks is important or demands is our due.