“Old
age is not something our generation likes to talk about very much, at least not
in realistic categories. We talk about preparing for retirement, but only with
the greatest reluctance do we prepare for infirmity and death. Very few talk
about these matters openly and frankly-without, on the one hand, dwelling on
them (which shows they are frightened by them), or, on the other hand,
suppressing them (which again shows they are frightened by them).
It is
much more responsible to learn how to age faithfully, to learn how to die well.
This the psalmist wanted. “Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me
when my strength is gone…Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to
come” (Ps. 71:9, 18). From his youth, he knew, God had taught him (71:17). Now
he prays against abandonment in old age.
At one
level, the psalmist is primarily asking that God will protect him against
outside attacks when he is too old and inform to resist (71:10ff). This would
be a special concern if the author of this particular psalm is David or some
other Davidic king. A nearby nation that would dare attack Israel when David
was forty might be emboldened when David was pushing seventy. Though most of us
are not kings, it is right and good to ask god for special protection when we
grow so elderly and inform that it is easy for others to take advantage of us.
But
David’s vision is more comprehensive than mere protection. He wants so to live
in old age that he passes on his witness to the next generation. His aim is not
to live comfortably in retirement, but to use his senior years “to declare your
power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.” That is a
prayer eminently worth praying. Should not senior saints be praying for grace
to pass on what they have learned to a new generation? Perhaps this will be one
on one, or in small groups. Perhaps one of them will take under his or her wing
some young Christian or abandoned waif. Perhaps some experienced prayer warrior
will teach a young Christian leader how to pray. And when there is too little
strength even for these things, we shall pray that God’s grace will so operate
in our weakness that God will be glorified in us: perhaps we shall teach
younger Christians how to persevere under suffering, how to trust in the midst
of pain, and how to do in the grace of God.”
-D.A.
Carson Theologian and Professor 1946-
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