ARE YOU GETTING OLD?
Satan loves to tell "old" people to slow down. The truth is that "old" people need to pour it on! We need to make the most of the time we have remaining. There is urgency about everything we do.
I am reading this morning in Psalm 71. There is so much encouragement in this Psalm about those of us in our fourth quarter. In a post like this, I can't write it all because it would take too long. I think I need to write an entire book about Fourth Quarter Saints, but I need to get on with it, don't I? There's not that much time left!
Read this, "My life is an example to many, because You have been my strength and protection. That is why I can never stop praising You; I declare Your glory all day long. And now, in my old age, don't set me aside. Don't abandon me when my strength is failing. O God, don't stay away. My God, please hurry to help me. I will keep on hoping for Your help; I will praise You more and more. I will tell everyone about Your righteousness. All day long I will proclaim Your saving power, though I am not skilled with words. I will praise Your mighty deeds, O Sovereign LORD. I will tell everyone that You alone are just.
O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things You do. Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim Your power to this new generation, Your mighty miracles to all who come after me" (Psalm 71:7-9, 12, 14-16, NLT).
Senior Saints, listen to me. (Put in your hearing aids if you need to). You have a mandate. Get out of that recliner. You don't need to be winding down. In David's old age, he wasn't doing "less and less." He says in verse 14 that he is praising "more and more." He isn't taking naps. He is busy "telling everyone" about God's righteousness. He is doing it "all day long." You now have the time to do it all day long. Your window hasn't passed. Instead, you finally have the ability to proclaim God's glory "all day long."
It seems that the older we get the more we repeat stories "on a loop." Guess what? That's exactly what we need to be doing. And we need to be doing it to the generation that is coming after. Let me just type verses 17-18 again. This is the story you need to be telling on a loop: "O God, You have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I CONSTANTLY TELL OTHERS about the wonderful things You do. Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim Your power to this new generation, Your mighty miracles to all who come after me."
Get up and out of that chair you are sitting in! God hasn't "set you aside." You have an urgent assignment to fulfill and you don't know how much time you have left to do it. Don't take any day or any minute for granted. It doesn't matter in the least that you are "not skilled with words." God has given you experiences.
Experiences always trump eloquence. Just share with everyone, every day, and in every way what God has done for you. Declare the goodness of God. "Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. And all my life You have been faithful. And all my life You have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able, Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God."
