Scripture
“Do not reject me in my old age, nor desert me when my strength is failing.”
Psalm 71:9, NJB
Quote
Each of us needs to begin now building our refuge in Christ: raising its walls prayer by prayer, devotion by devotion, experience by experience. Make haste!
~Gerald H. Wilson
Sometimes, as I am reading, I stop and reflect; then I attempt to share my thoughts in a blog. This blog was inspired by my reading in the NIV Commentary. I thought, “This is too good to keep to myself.” Psalm 70-71 go together. It is a desperate plea for God’s intervention and David’s confession of his fear of being put on the shelf, retired, replaced and all without honor. It is not a roast or a retirement celebration, David is being run out of town. In Psalm 70:5, David confessed…“Poor and needy as I am, God, come quickly to me! Yahweh, my helper, my Saviour, do not delay!” Along with old age comes diminished powers or strength with a corresponding sense of need. I cut one load of fire wood yesterday and I could barely crawl into the cab of the truck to drive home. When I got home, I had June call Ty to come help me unload it. I can remember when I could cut four loads and do it all myself without any assistance. Those days are gone! Although I cannot do as much as I once could, I am fortune in being able to do many things but at a much slower pace. I am thankful!
There is another step to aging and we don’t know when that time will come; it could be soon or the LORD could have mercy and promote me in my prime. When one is no longer able to do the things that once gave them a sense of importance {work, helping others, etc}. Your kids no longer trust you behind the wheel and perhaps to even baby sit, you begin feeling the loss of respect, value and identity. If you aren’t careful, this can deteriorate into a sense of shame. Our present culture doesn’t help. Our current society equates “good” and “valued” with “young” and “beautiful.” Aging is a concern today: Baby Boomers are now senior adults and there is a horde of us. Although we are in rapid decline, there are still 70 million Baby Boomers and there remains 22 million older than us. That is a lot of old folks.
June and I had to go to CRMC on Monday for our checkup and the place was covered up with old folks. I told June as we drove away, “Did you notice all those old folks?” She actually grinned and said, “What do you think we are?” Now, a word to the wise: If you are one of those people who thinks about retirement everyday so you can sleep in, watch TV and entertain yourself to death–You listen up. We have created an entire sub-culture of such individuals and we have put them to the side in nursing homes where they have a TV in every room and constant entertainment. Do not bank on TV. It will never give you a feeling of worth; it will not edify or build you up and it certainly cannot give you friendship, fellowship or love. Entertainment is not what drives the human spirit: we are purpose driven. This is not Rick Warren stuff: Rick is a plagiarist. This is Viktor Frankl stuff. Every human being needs a purpose to live.
What is the one thing you can do when you can’t see, drive, walk and even bath yourself? You can pray. To my knowledge, it is the last thing that will go. Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian pastor who spent years in solitary confinement. The communist did not allow him to have a bible or even a pen and paper. He quoted as many verses a day as he could remember but eventually the mental strain caused him to forget every verse but one. I can’t remember if it was Romans 8:28 or John 3:16 but he got down to a part of one verse but he prayed every day. You have be realistic folks: you will not have a passion for prayer when you get old and gray if you don’t start building that passion today. You want to develop a passion for reading God’s word: start reading it daily now. Do I encourage reading the Bible through programs? To quote Luther, “You better believe it.” This is what got me hooked. Whatever it takes to build your refuge in Christ, start now!
We have no water in the kitchen and it is my fault: I knew the water would freeze in this kind of weather. June left it dripping but that was not enough. The Russians don’t have anything on us today: it feels like Siberia out there: have a great day. I have to run to town and find a small heater to go under the floor.