I ran across a few of God's promises to His older saints in my study this week. The first is in Isaiah:
"I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you; I will give you help and rescue you" (Isaiah 46:4, GNT).
The second is in the book of psalms:
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him" (Psalm 92:12-15).
Let's look at the magnificent promise in Isaiah. In it, God vows to take care of His people when they're old and gray. He also promised to "rescue" His older servants, which means that the old are not exempt from trials and tribulations, or from faith adventures that will require God's intervention and assistance. No matter what, God will still be their refuge and strength.
Then in Psalm 92, God promises that the righteous ones will still bear fruit in their old age, staying "fresh and green." In their later years, they will proclaim God's goodness. This doesn't sound anything like retirement or of being physically unable to perform good works or purposeful deeds.
We saw earlier in this series that "Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone" (Deuteronomy 34:7). It's not necessarily true that the old are also infirm. So if God promises to rescue the old and if they will still bear fruit, it also doesn't sound like they will retire to God's "home for the elderly." They still have purpose and God expects them to produce fruit consistent with their gifts and talents.
So what is your fruit? What is the purpose of your life? You must answers those questions regardless of your age, for God's promises or expectations don't have an expiration date. What's more, since the joy of the Lord is your strength, if you want strength in your latter years, you must be doing the things you love to do, things that give you joy.
As I write, I'm 74 years old. I know I'm not getting out of here alive, but I don't plan on cooperating with the aging process. I want to thrive and not just survive. If the day comes I cannot write, then I'll dictate or draw or do something to declare that "the Lord is upright." I'll travel as long as I can and I'll broadcast the lessons God is teaching me until death prevents me from doing so.
By then, however, I will have left enough behind that, should God choose to use it, my voice will continue to be heard when my days on earth have come to an end. How about you? How do you want to end? Do you want to just survive or do you choose to thrive? Think about it and while you do, I trust you will have a blessed week.
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