Focus on God’s uncountable deeds, not your countable years

Large parts of our culture treat advancing age as something awful, a fact to deny and hide. Psalm 71 showed a healthier attitude: at every stage of life, focus on what God has done in and through you. And then find ways to share that with other people. In Israel, the focus of teaching was not to satisfy random human curiosity, but to pass on the knowledge of God’s powerful acts to future generations. Physical feats may change with age, but an understanding of God’s wonders can just keep growing.

• “In Psalm 71, the expressions ‘all day long’ and ‘forever’ and ‘always’ recur…. Three times, then, the psalm talks in terms of ‘always’ (no psalm makes more use of this word). In the past, ‘my praise has always been of you.’ In the present, I need you to be ‘a shelter to which I can always come.’ In the future, ‘I will hope always.’” * How can seeing and sharing the ways God’s goodness has touched all parts of your life shape an ever-growing stock of trust and faith to pass on?
• Psalm 71 was not like some ads for saving that imagine our “senior” years as a non-stop, self-absorbed vacation. The psalmist’s “bucket list” was nothing more than a lifelong calling to share God’s love and power: “Even in my old age with gray hair, don’t abandon me, God! Not until I tell generations about your mighty arm, tell all who are yet to come about your strength.” At age 21 or 81, do you (or will you) focus on telling future generations about the God you love and serve?