Let’s do a quick review. According to Psalm 71, Growing Old God’s Way consists of:
1. Developing a deep knowledge of God
2. Developing the godly habits of trust, praise and hope.
We left off at the habit of trust, let’s finish now with praise and hope and then wrap up this Psalm with David’s final lesson.
The habit of praise (71:6)
Praise is not a natural habit; But God wants us to be people of praise. Even when difficult times come, God wants us to learn to praise Him. Just as trust stems from knowing God, so praise stems from trusting God. This is true on the human level as well as on the divine. You can’t praise a person you don’t trust. If you feel that there is something about a person that you can’t trust, you won’t sing his praises to others. It’s the same way with God. If deep-down inside you doubt God’s goodness or faithfulness for allowing some trial to come your way, then you don’t trust Him. And in not trusting Him, you cannot honestly praise Him.
If you are a complainer and have trouble developing a habit of praise, I would suggest the same two steps I mentioned under trust: First, concentrate on getting to know God and His ways. Second, review what God has already done for you. “Count your many blessings, name them one by one.”
The habit of hope (71:14)
According to King David, God is the source of a believer’s hope. Hope is God’s gracious gift to all His people. Hope brings light in the darkness. Hope brings a strong hand, reaching down to lift us up – out of our troubles – out of our sins, and into God’s presence. According to King David, God is a believer’s Rock and Fortress. In Him, His people find a safe and secure place of refuge. In Him, they find shelter from the storm. Believers, we need to be people who have built a habit of hope by trusting in the very promises of God.
Therefore, David was in a good place in his old age because he had developed a deep knowledge of God and he had developed the godly habits of trust, praise, and hope. Finally, he sums it all up by proclaiming his motivation to keep on living.
3. He had developed a lifestyle of ministry for God.
Although the psalmist was old (71:9, 18) and could have kicked back and said, “I deserve some rest,” he did not. He still had a concern for ministry, for testifying to others of God’s faithfulness and power (71:8, 15-18, 24). As long as he had breath, he wanted to keep telling people about God’s greatness and glory.
Where in the Bible do we find the magic number 65? (For some it’s getting later and later.) If you’re freed up from your job at 65 and you’re healthy, why not view it as an opportunity to serve the Lord full-time? I know that is a convicting issue for me. I seem to have many plans of how I am going to spend my retirement, but I have to admit – serving God is not at the top of the list.
The point is – the psalmist didn’t want to be delivered from his problems so that he could read and go to the beach every day. He wanted to be delivered so that he could proclaim God’s power to the next generation (71:18). He saw a longer life as an opportunity for extended ministry. And his ministry was built on his knowledge of God and his habits of trust, praise, and hope, so he had something worth handing off!
How about you? Are you developing a lifestyle of ministry now, built on your personal walk with God?
Conclusion: God’s way for us to grow old is for us to develop a walk with Him now–a walk that involves a deep personal, experiential knowledge of God, a walk that includes the habits of trust, praise, and hope, and a walk that involves a lifestyle of ministry for God. Then, as long as we have life and breath, we can show and tell and sing of the greatness of our God to the next generation.
Lynne Jahns
Resources
“Growing Old God’s Way” Steven J. Cole, 1993.
“A Life Well Lived” Terry DeFoe, 2010.
“The Old Man’s Sermon” C.H. Spurgeon, 1875.
Victory Call 