Our son says there are three stages to life: youth, middle age, and “My, you’re looking well today!”
We smile, but in all seriousness, old age can be a frightening and needy time. As I watched my parents go through this period in their lives, I thought, “You can call them the “golden” or “sunset years” if you like, but when old age has come and debilitating illness keeps you from doing all the things that have brought you joy over the years, sometimes it doesn’t seem like the sun is shining at all. Pain, weakness, loss of memory, failing eyesight, loss of appetite—these symptoms are not easy to deal with. One by one brothers, sisters and close friends begin to disappear from the scene—and ultimately a mate is taken by death.
One of my mother’s dear friends once quipped, “You know, we’d better not stay around here too long ourselves or there won’t be anybody left to come to our funerals!”
How good to know that God doesn’t use us while we’re productive and then forget us or toss us aside. We are just as valuable to Him when we reach the point when we can no longer do things for God as when we were young and strong. Our value in His sight doesn’t diminish with age.
My Dad’s favorite verse about these years was Isaiah 46:4: “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he…who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
Never will there come a time when God will not be there for you. When God says, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” He means just that: Never! He will “sustain” you, “carry” you, and “rescue” you. It’s God’s promise for old age!
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