Psalm 71.18 18 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. (ESV)
Three days ago my first grandchild was born – yes, I’m a
grand-pa now! (There’s a catchy little tune that goes with those words…) But as
grand-dad, things look different now than they did before my grandson Maxx was
born. I don’t look a lot different, but life looks a lot different. One
replaying chorus in my head each time I think about all the evils in the world
and all the adventures and disappointments my grandson will face is: but God…
As I read this psalm today I heard variations on that
theme: but God. God doesn't forget
about the aging and the aged – as long as we've breath we have purpose on earth
for God and with God. As long as we live there is work to be done and a witness
to be lived for the Almighty.
The psalmist wrote: So
even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me… The aged are very
important to God. Their experiences – their trials and errors are worth looking
at and trying to learn from. Even mistakes tell a story and the problems of the
world won’t just go away with the next generation, they’ll, sadly, only get
worse. So learning from experience is valuable even if it is only this lesson:
don’t do that, it didn’t work for us and it probably won’t work for you.
I don’t worry about God’s forsaking me. If I am honest, I
worry about how I’ll live; but even in those worries I get around to this: I
don’t get taken out of God’s earthly employ until my last breath goes out of my
lungs and until then, I have something to do: proclaim [His] might to another generation, [His] power to all those to
come. That includes a newborn grandson.
Worry is an obnoxious petty thief. He comes in little by
little and causes us to begin to question what will happen to us without a
late-in-life game plan. The psalmist says proclaiming God’s might is our work
especially when we’re cast up on the heap of the world’s used stuff – what good is he, he’s old! As long as
there’s breath there is a voice, and the
world of the new need to hear of God’s might to help the plight of man. New
babies, new teens, new newly-weds. New believers, everyone!
Until the end of all things there will always be a new
generation to be patiently, gently guided into the thought process of: but for God, we will all perish. But with God, we will all succeed in the
greatest calling of every individual on this earth throughout time: There is a
God and we are not Him.
Father, You are gracious, loving, and always have
something for me to do. Help me not to worry about aging, health, retirement –
yada, yada, yada. May I focus on the truth that there is another generation
which needs to hear about Your might; may I succeed in proclaiming to them that
truth … Amen.
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