Photo by Miguel Bruna on Unsplash
" Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you." - Psalm 71:4-6 (ESV)
I wonder if I could apply this prayer to ask God to rescue me from myself - my own worst enemy. I am unjust and cruel with myself.
My capacity for wickedness rivals the Charlie Mansons of the world.
But I have hope, trust, and leaning -- and while leaning on the Everlasting Arms, I am restrained and retrained.
"Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent." -Psalm 71:9 (ESV)
I never expected to get this old this soon.
Not that I am old at sixty five, but there are limitations and failures that I thought I would not experience for decades to come. They are not insurmountable, but I can see how people with less of a sense of unseen Center and the guiding hand of divine Purpose might get discouraged, and feel forsaken or spent.
He who renews our youth like the eagle causes us to run and not be weary to walk and not faint (a phrase that has become more real to me in recent years since I first encountered some serious health challenges.)
There is a purpose statement buried in these words - a purpose for our final third or fourth of life:
"... until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come..."
And we continue to ruminate:
" O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again." - Psalm 71:17-21 (ESV)
We may have entered the time when we are not primarily building our own ministries and legacies, but those of the next generations. In many ways, that is always the case at every stage of life ... but it becomes more of a priority as we age.
We say, "but I am not done building our own," and God says, "It never was your own in the first place."
That becomes clearer with the years.
It never was mine to build for myself.
And then, there comes great joy in proclaiming to another generation.
That is where I want to invest the next phase of my existence on this planet.
