Psalm 37 and growing older

Psalms 37:25
I was once young, now I am old.
I have never seen a godly man abandoned,
or his children a forced to search for food.

We had an interesting discussion this week with one of the university student groups. There is nothing like discussions with bright young people to keep you young.  However, discussing aging with a group of 20 somethings was a new experience. It is interesting to see how your perspective changes over the years.  To the students, old age is something entirely foreign and several decades in the future. While to your intrepid baby boomer, well, many of those decades are in the past!


The focus of the discussion was God's plan for every stage of our life, including old age.  We have been using Max Lucado's book, "He Still Moves Stones", to talk about how God deals with the various "stones" in our lives. In the case of growing old, "what do you think it will be like to grow old, and how will God be with you in the process?".

My contribution was Psalm 37.   There is much encouragement in this Psalm. In the opening verses, the psalmist exhorts us to not fret. Commit your way to the Lord.  Trust in the Lord.  Do not fret... When we were young we may have said that we understood this, but only with the perspective of old age, can we truly appreciate, like King David did, the security we can have in trusting the Lord in all things.  After you have faced a few lions and bears, and the occasional giant, you can be much more confident in saying, don't fret, "God's got it all under control!"

The central section of the psalm talks about evil men, the rich, the greedy, all the enemies of God.  To a young man, facing these kinds of men and potential problems can be very daunting, but to the old man who has been through  it all, with the Lord at his side, these are just mile markers along the road of life. Signposts that point to all the times when God saved and provided.

In the end, the psalmist tells us:
"I was once young, now I am old.
I have never seen a godly man abandoned,
or his children a forced to search for food. "

I have certainly found this to be true, and encouraged the young people to trust in God, because, in the end, He will always take care of you.  It's important to listen to the still small voice of God as we journey through life, so that we don't have any regrets when we come to the end.  The saddest thing to an old man is to have to ask "what if only I had ...".  If you live a life in obedience to all that God tells you to do, then it is possible to come to a ripe old age, and look back without regrets.  Are you doing that?  If not, you can always start today, it's not too late...... yet.