It’s always a privilege to be asked to write an article for the eNewsletter, but today, I am struggling to do so. First, I forgot that I was to write an article for this week. And second, I had a “rough” day yesterday, physically. I’m feeling much better today, except for the fact that my mind remains a little “cloudy”.
Unless the Lord has specific plans for us, we will all grow older. Every morning, I look into my bathroom mirror and try to figure out who the old man is staring back at me. Many of you know what I’m talking about.
In Ecclesiastes 12, Solomon writes about those days when “the keepers of the house [the various members of your body] tremble,” when “the strong are bent,” when “the grinders cease because they become few,” when “those who look through the windows are dimmed,” when “the sound of the daughters of song are brought low.”
I know what it is to have the shakes, to feel at times like I can’t stand up straight without losing my balance. I also know what it means to struggle with the condition of one’s teeth, as I await going to the dentist to get yet another crown. I recently had cataracts removed from both eyes, and I have benefited for several years from hearing aids.
So, I’m getting older. Some would say I’m just simply old. Whichever the case, my physical condition is not as good as it once was. Because we live in such a wonderful moment in the development of medical science it is often easy to forget just how old one has become. I’ve had my heart repaired, I take medicine to control my diabetes, I have new lenses for my eyes that allow me to see without the need for glasses, and I wear hearing aids so I can hear my daughters sing. For all of these things, I am grateful, but I also know they sometimes keep me from realizing how old I have become.
However, I’m proud to be as old as I am. In Proverbs 20.29, I’m told that while the glory of a young man is his strength, the splendor of an old man is his gray hair. I’m growing more and more splendid!
I find it interesting that in Psalm 71, David asks two times for the Lord not to forget him in his old age. In verse 18, David asks that in his old age he might continue to have the privilege to “proclaim the [Lord’s] might to another generation, [His] power to all those to come.” The Lord answered David’s prayer, for here we are, “all those to come” still reading and being both encouraged and challenged by the Lord speaking to us through the words that David wrote.
The Lord has graciously stayed with me. He continues to give me opportunities to proclaim to others the wonder of Who He is and what He has done and is doing. For that, I am humbly grateful.
Of course, as my body begins to slow down, I live with the Lord’s promise that one day, He will come again to set all things right-side up, or I will exit this body and find myself in the Lord’s presence. I’m awaiting that day when my soul and body will once more be one, and I will live forever upon a new earth, free of all pain, tears, sorrows, and sins. Once again, I will glory in the strength of a young man.
~ Pastor Caines
