"Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth."
Psalm 71:9
An old Chinese Grandpa, too feeble to work, was considered by the family an unwanted burden - just another mouth to consume the meager supply of rice. Therefore the father of the home decided to put the old man on a wheelbarrow and take him up to the mountains to die. The little eight-year-old grandson went along, full of curiosity and question. The father explained that the grandfather was old and helpless, and that there was nothing else to be done with him. Then the little chap had a happy thought: "I'm glad I came along, Daddy," said the youngster, "because when you get old I'll know where to take you!" The daddy stopped dead in his tracks, thought better of the whole situation, and brought the old gentleman back home.
Old age is beset with many such fears of being unwanted and cast off when youthful strength has departed. David too was not immune to such thoughts, and therefore he cries out to God to remember him in his declining years. God's answer to David comes ringing from the portals of Heaven through the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah: "Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you (Isaiah 46:4)!
G.W. Aleen comments most wisely, "As we grow older in years and in our Christian experiences, satan is less able to tempt us to the sins more prevalent among youth, but it is then that he often succeeds in souring our spirit, making us critical, and at times outright mean ... It has been my constant prayer that, if the Lord permits me to grow old, I may be a kindly old man, sweet in mind and spirit wherever I may be."
How beautiful a sight it is to see elderly Christians still looking to the future, still happily trusting God and clinging to His promises!
"Bread For Each Day"
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