.png)
By: Mariah Westra
You may listen to this devotion in audio form via podcast here.
For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord,
My confidence since my youth....
As for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
-Psalm 71:5, 14
There is something that everyone wants and yet almost everyone fears: to grow old. It has many frightening aspects – an aging body more susceptible to disease, declining strength, loss of loved ones and friends – but there is joy and great value in growing old.
Throughout the Bible, God called many of his servants to do His work in their later years. Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah 90, when Isaac was born. Moses was 80 when he led Israel out of Egypt. Anna was “very old” (Luke 2:36) when she prophesied and worshiped day and night in the temple. Each of these servants were steadfast in their faith and walk with God, even in their old age.
Psalm 71 is the psalm of an old man. Trials and problems plague him, but like God’s older servants before and after him, the psalmist affirms his trust in the Lord. Even in difficult circumstances, he displays an unrelenting faith in God. Throughout the psalm the author acknowledges that God is his hope, his refuge, his rock, his salvation. He sees his life as a testimony to others of all God has done for him, a lifetime of blessings and consistent grace.
My oma lived this psalm. Her life, filled with difficulty and sorrow but also joy and peace, is a testimony to me and many others. Her faithfulness was a direct reflection of her faithful God. He was her constant companion and faithful friend and it showed in the way that she lived, in spite of all the problems she experienced as she aged. She was a witness and testimony to God until she took her last breath, and her testimony remains living in the memories of all who knew her.
My prayer as I reflect on the words of this psalm, and the life of my oma, is that I grow old to the glory of God. I pray that as I age, I may grow bolder and more committed to God. I pray that I continue to desire to live and die, in a way that shows God to be the all-satisfying treasure that I know Him to be.
In John 21:18-19 Jesus described “the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.” There are different ways of dying, just as there are different ways of living. But for the Christian, living and dying should glorify God. All our days, and even in our last hours, we are supposed to show that Christ, not this world, is our treasure. Our lives are a testimony to what God has done for us, a display of His constant help in all the days He has known us.
When our hearts find their rest in Christ, we are able to say “as for me I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.” And when the end finally comes, we can reiterate Paul’s words “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).