Since the recent Presidential debate, much of our talk has been about age related disabling conditions. (NOTE: THIS IS NOT ABOUT PARTISAN POLITICS, so look elsewhere if you’re looking for Trump bashing, Biden bashing, or political prognostication.) What it is about is getting older and dealing with ailments and disabilities that come with it. Very few of us die in good health (1), and no one dies because of good health. Yet, there is one certainty besides taxes, we will all die unless our Lord comes first (for which we pray). Along the path to that end, we get older, and it’s harder for some than others.
For me, post-Polio leaves me weaker with each passing year, and I may have many years of getting weaker. Dear friends of mine also must deal with progressive diseases that make life harder every day. Cognitive disabilities afflict many we love. My mother and mother-in-law walked that terrible path. Some of the most brilliant and accomplished people I’ve ever known became senile. Given my family history, I may have that same future. There is no blame. Senility just happens. Losses of eyesight, hearing, sleep, and mobility can just happen. Why, in God’s good world, do such things just happen?
I’ve pointed to Psalm 90 before and do so again, because of its honesty about aging and death:
7 We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
10 Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
12 Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:7-12 NIV)
Do we suffer such things associated with aging because God’s ticked-off at us? He may be, but that’s not the Psalmist’s point. The first 6 verses set this Psalm in the creation and fall. God’s anger is at a sinful world, and we experience it because that’s where we live, and where we will “turn back to the dust” (verse 3). God’s wrath is set beside His Holiness. What we rely upon in this death-ridden world is His mercy and grace to bring us through to the end. For those who know His love, His grace is sufficient each day (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Even if, and especially if, we are weak, we will find God’s power bringing us day by day to our joyful end. But, because Jesus died and rose again, it will not be a true end, but a real beginning.
Here are the words of an old man, named Simeon, ready to depart this life:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)
My college chorus ended each concert with a beautiful setting by David Fetler of these words from Martin Luther:
In peace and joy, I now depart
At God’s disposing;
For full of comfort is my heart;
Soft reposing.
So the Lord hath promised me,
And death for me is but a slumber. (2)(Follow the link in the note)
In Christ, weak as we may be, in decline as we may have been, our hope blazes bright for a true strength, and for a true awakening in the Lord’s presence.
Tim Kelley
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(1) I’m not including things like a fatal accident, suicide, or homicide.
(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4KKO8ddYKw