There are no Methuselahs among men today. Even those who live the longest are junior to Jacob, who at the age of a hundred and thirty declared that his years had been few (Gen. 47:9).
There are many, however, who in the language of the Bible, are “well stricken in years.” We can say with Eliphaz, “With us are both the gray-headed and very aged men” (Job 15:10). When these are found among the people of God, men and women who have for many a long year walked in His ways, they are worthy of all honor.
Monuments of Mercy
We value our aged brethren and sisters. How it encourages us to see them, monuments of divine mercy, kept by the power of God through all the ups and downs of life. We thank Him for the cheer which comes to us through them.
The days of restless youth with their golden dreams have faded into the remote past. Gone, too, is middle life with its stress and conflict. Old age is come, and has brought its peculiar trials and special exercises. In view of these, we desire to address a few words of cheer and loving exhortation to those who are nearing the end of their pilgrim journey. This we would do as did the apostle, treating them as fathers, and the elder women as mothers (1 Tim. 5:1).
Fruit-bearing in Old Age
Should not the Christian’s declining years be the brightest and best of all? We who know the grace and power of Christ do not share the surprise of the master of ceremonies at the wedding at Cana when the good wine is kept to the last. He is able to make the evening of our days golden with the shining of His love.
Much depends on whether we keep close to the Lord and find the home of our souls in His company. To those who abide in His love, and in this sense are “planted in the house of the Lord,” a cheering promise is given: “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age” (Psalm 92:14).
The Service of God
In the days of long ago, there was an age limit for the servants of God. The ministry of the Levites ended at fifty (Num. 4:47). Not so in Christianity. Service may continue till our Master calls us home, if only the soul is kept “flourishing.”
Let none, therefore, think themselves useless, mere burdens to others. Barzillai feared that he was this, and as he had reached his eightieth birthday, it was perhaps only natural that he should. “Wherefore then, should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?” he asked (2 Sam. 19:35). But in point of fact he was far from being a burden. Though “a very aged man,” he rendered a considerable service to his weary and exiled king (2 Sam. 17:27-29). Age is no bar to service.
“It is now thirty years,” writes one, “since I left the shores of England, and I am now far on in my seventy-ninth year, so I cannot expect to continue this service much longer.” But our aged brother evidently meant to continue as long as he was left on earth. He had no intention of seeking a place on the retired list. Why should he? He had not reached the age of Barzillai yet.
Infirm and Poor
Barzillai was a “great man,” and was yet able to move about. What of those who are not only aged but poor? What of those crippled by infirmity? Can they be otherwise than a burden?
They can indeed. In the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, lives one such, Mrs. K., blind and bedridden. But how she can cheer those who visit her! Never a complaint does one hear from her lips, but thanksgiving and praise. Her very face reflects the gladness that fills her heart. Often a depressed visitor has come away uplifted and refreshed from her bedside. All unconsciously the dear, blind, bed-ridden saint has served her Master well.
Perhaps Anna, with her full sheaf of years was another like that. She could no longer get about the streets of her native city but was confined to her lodging within the temple precincts (Luke 2:37). Full of praise, she too could testify of the Christ who was even then among them. Of Him she spake “to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Happy service, in spite of her widowhood and the weight of her years. “She was of a great age . . . about fourscore and four years.”
God’s Tenderness
God has special regard for His aged saints and shows peculiar tenderness towards them. He was thinking of them in their weakness when He said, “Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you” (Isa 46:4). As a loving mother carries her tired child, so does our God graciously carry us over the rough places of life. Nor does He ever set us down. Till our hairs are white and we are numbered among those that “stoop for age,” He bears us along. Like the shepherd in the parable, He carries us all the way till He brings us home (Luke 15:3-6).
A Sad Old Age
If God’s aged pilgrims “continually resort” to Him as their “strong habitation” (Ps. 71:3), they will be maintained in spiritual freshness and joy. But old age in itself is no guarantee of this.
We have a mournful instance of what I mean in the story of Uzziah (2 Chron. 26). He was one of the greatest and best of Judah’s kings. He sought the God of his fathers and walked in His ways. The Lord helped him abundantly and it looked as if Uzziah’s reign would end in a blaze of glory.
But at sixty-eight he fell. Finding himself strong, “his heart was lifted up,” and he thought that he could do without the priest.
A fearful mistake indeed, and attended with terrible consequences. But let us take heed lest we fall into the same snare. A long life spent in the fear of God may close under the shadow of a great shame if we imagine that it enables us to dispense for a moment with the services of our great High Priest.
He it is who lives to save us to the uttermost, through every trial. Through Him we “obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). We cannot do without Him. Like Mephibosheth, we are helpless in ourselves to the very end of life’s journey, though continually receiving grace from on high, and kept by the bounty of our Saviour-God. If we forget this, disastrous will be the result.
Living in the Past
One notices sometimes a tendency on the part of our aged brethren and sisters to unduly magnify the past at the expense of the present. The memory naturally lingers amid the scenes of long ago, when everything seemed bright and fresh. Perhaps things were brighter then. There may have been more widespread interest in the things of God. People assembled in greater numbers to hear the Gospel. Since then, the zeal of many seems to have waxed cold.
But the things that warmed our hearts in those never-to-be-forgotten days remain. The grace of God never fails. The unchanging love of Christ is still ours to enjoy. We have the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost with us. Prayer is a privilege that belongs to us as much as to our fathers, and “the comfort of the Scriptures” is as great as ever it was. Change and decay we may see around us, but He who has saved us remains the same.
Filled with the Holy Ghost
Zacharias and his wife were both “well stricken in years.” They had lived blamelessly before the Lord, walking in His fear. But there was nothing very remarkable about them. Elisabeth’s life, from the standpoint of a Jewish woman, had been a failure. Zacharias, though a man of prayer, could hardly be called a man of great faith.
In their old age, a wonderful thing happened. They were both filled with the Holy Ghost.
First, Elisabeth was filled (Luke 1:41). Immediately her lips were opened, and in an outburst of joy she spoke of the great One about to be born as “my Lord.” It was some weeks after this that Zacharias was filled. The result with him was a song of praise that celebrated the expected advent of Christ into the world.
This is how it always is. Those who are filled with the Holy Ghost do not speak of themselves, their own experience, or their work. Their eyes are upon Christ, their hearts are strongly drawn out in affection to Him, and their lips utter His goodness. They testify of their Saviour, not of themselves.
How charming it is to meet with a dear aged saint who is filled with the Holy Ghost! Even if his or her life has been of an ordinary kind, what we might call a low-level life, it is not too late to seek this wonderful filling; not too late to give heed to the word, “Be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).
A Warning
It may be that among the elderly readers of these pages there is one still unsaved. If it is a terrible thing for those who are young and strong to be without Christ. How much more so for those whose sun has almost set!
“If a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many” (Eccl. 11:8). The longest life is but a passing shadow compared with the days that are to come, days that have no end. And if they be days of darkness, of what avail will have been the rejoicings with which all the years of the present life have been filled?
To trust in the Saviour, to build our confidence upon the firm foundation of the work that He finished, to rest in His faithful word concerning “all that believe,” is to insure peace for the present and glory for the future. To take any other way than this is to consign oneself to those days of darkness that will be the endless portion of all who have refused the proffered salvation.
Alone, Yet Not Alone
One word in conclusion. Does the aged Christian feel lonely? Are the loved ones of earlier years all gone? While you watch and wait for your Saviour to come, do you feel “as a sparrow alone upon the housetop”? (Ps. 102:7).
Take comfort then from the case of “Paul the Aged,” as he calls himself. The friends of former days had left him. In the hour of his need, no man stood with him, but all forsook him (2 Tim. 4:16). “Notwithstanding,” he triumphantly exclaims, “the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me.” Happy man: alone, yet not alone.
Thus it will ever be. To the very end, God’s aged pilgrims will prove the truth of His promise, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). With this promise laid to heart, we may pray the prayer of Psalm 39:13, “O spare me, that I may brighten up before I go hence” (RV, mar.).