God Has an Important Promise in Old Age

When our son, Adam, was just a little guy and beginning to talk, he always referred to himself as an "it." I don't know what I did to dehumanize him in his mind, but I did little to correct him. "It" was just so dad-gummed cute.

These were common questions, as he grabbed my hand to lead me away:
"Feed it?"
"Play with it?"
"Come with it?"

The most frequent were these requests, as he'd stop me, put his hands up in the air and say,
"Hold it?"
"Carry it?"

Of course, I never thought that I might be enabling laziness, I just followed up on the request. Today, it's hard to wrap my mind around a picture of that little guy with the man he has become. He no longer asks for "it" to be held. (Sigh........I miss those days.) However, I couldn't if he did. He's Army-Strong!

Today, my son is in his prime.
Today, let's just say, I am not.
I'm in my "ziqna and seba" years.
(Remember: old age and gray hairs)

I think it's time for him to remember the end to the story I read my children a million, maybe a kazillion, times: I'll Love You Forever. In the end, the son climbs through a window, holds his mother, rocks her and sings:

"I'll love you forever.
I'll like you for always.
As long as I'm living,
My mommy you'll be."

Adam does do that for his children...and in every way that is like holding and rocking my own heart! He may be Army-Strong, but he is Heart-Soft.

I have digressed a lot. This blog is not at all supposed to be about my son, or his old-age-mother. It is about God's Promise to us in our old age and gray hair.

It is about God's faithfulness.
It is about the fact that He is always true to His Word.
It is about the answer that He gave to the Prayer of David, that we looked at last week...and the week before.
It is about his pledge to us in our "ziqna and seba."

God has given us a purpose, yes. That purpose is in relation to the generations that will follow us.
It's a great honor to be made stewards of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

AH! But, outstanding news - there is a promise to come along with the purpose.
It's a promise of His Presence.
But, it's more than an off-in-the-distance watching us kind of presence.
God's promise is to "hold it"...to "carry it"...all the way from here to our heavenly home.
He declares that He will bear us up, and sustain us, that we may do all He has planned for us until that day.

How do I know? Here's the Word on that:

Here's the actual passage from the ESV:

Listen to me...All who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb, I am He; even to your old age and gray hairs I will carry you; I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and I will save.

There are days, hours, moments when I know I need to take care of myself.
Those are the days when I've been on the road for days, or busy until late at night with preparations for things to come. This is not about that...

However, when God's call comes to be purposeful-for-His-glory, and in the moment I wonder about the energy, His vow to me is sure.

When I start to wonder (Ok, let's be honest, that word "wonder" should be worry or fear) about what it will like when I am much older, and have lost memory, lost strength, lost energy, lost agility, lost ability...or just feel downright lost...I can still KNOW, He is carrying me. He is sustaining me. He still has a plan for me, even in that day. There is still a reason to keep on keeping on...

"He who calls is faithful; He will surely do it!"

1 Thessalonians 5:24

So remember this quote?

NEWS FLASH, Stephen Colbert (Peg Forrest), there is no need to FEAR. 

The I AM 

is EVER-PRESENT

(Immanuel).

He will "carry it."