My father took aging in stride. He would laugh and say, “I don’t care what color my hair turns, long as it don’t turn loose!” In the end, most of his hair abandoned him. He would laugh about candles on his birthday cake and all the kind and sometimes unkind jokes. “Nothing wrong with a birthday,” he would say. “It sure beats the alternative!” In the end, he celebrated 88 birthdays.
My generation does not handle aging as well as he did. I read yesterday (on a screen in an elevator, of all things) that among those of a certain age, four people out of ten have made attempts to look younger, whether with hair color, hair growth treatments, Botox injections, plastic surgery, or more drastic measures.
And my generation did not grow up with smart phones, social media, and cameras in our pockets 24-7. We are not as obsessively visual as those who were raised with these things. My father—a serious photographer—would be shocked to know the number of daily selfies many young people snap, trying to capture that perfect look (one study says Americans spend an average of seven minutes every day snapping, editing, and posting selfies).
The amount of time and energy we devote to our “online presence” is staggering. And many of us spend an excessive amount of time working out, dieting, and otherwise attempting to modify our appearance. Today’s fixation on youthfulness will only get worse.
The King James translation of Joshua chapter 13 begins with an interesting comment on aging:
“Now Joshua was old and stricken in years, and the Lord said unto him, ‘Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed….” Joshua 13:1.
My Bible contains a note, defining ‘stricken’ as ‘advanced.’ Thou art old and advanced in years. But I like stricken. It’s honest.
As positive as he always was, my father would also admit: “It’s tough getting old.” My mother would say, “It’s not for the faint of heart.” Why not? Because sometimes you feel stricken. Because as one of Shakespeare’s youngest heroes puts it, every day we face “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune … the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.” You’re going to suffer. Your body is going to fail. At some point you will die. And you may endure many pains and indignities along the way. We should be honest with ourselves and face things directly:
Getting old is tough. It will test you and challenge you in unpredictable ways and at inconvenient times.
But God is sovereign. At his mother’s memorial service, my cousin Bobby began about a dozen paragraphs this way: “God is sovereign. He took care of this… God is sovereign. He provided for that… God is sovereign. He knew we would need the following…”
Joshua was old. He was stricken. But he was not finished! He continued to lead the nation. God came to him reminding him of his age only as a way of saying, ‘let’s get on with it! Time is running out!’
In the chapters that follow, Joshua leads the tribes to take control of more and more of the land allotted to them. Finally in chapter 19, the people give old-man Joshua a city. They gave him a whole city! And Joshua moved in, “he built the city and dwelt therein” Joshua 19:50. This man who is old and stricken led battles, then led a building program to refurbish his own city. And let’s not forget Moses—he was 80 years old when he met God at the burning bush. He was 80 years old when he began his forty-year ministry.
God is with the aging.
“Listen to me, House of Jacob, and all who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth. I will be the same in your old age, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you and I will carry you; I will bear and save you” Isaiah 46: 3-4.
God can use the aging.
“Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not understanding come with long life?” Job 12:12.
“They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green” Psalm 92:14.
God will reward the aging.
“Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness” Proverbs 16:31.
As you grow older, God will always have something for you to do. Keep bearing fruit. Keep loving people. Keep spending time with God.
As you decrease your physical activity, increase your spiritual activity.
Study the Bible more. Spend more time in prayer. Serve people where you can, even if it is something simple like sending them a note in the mail. Create a more complicated prayer list. Challenge yourself. Memorize some Bible verses. Make it your mission to love people better, and also to love Jesus better. Spend more time in His presence. Store up treasure in heaven. God is not finished with you!
AΩ.
Household Words: 