| “From birth I have relied on you…” |
| —Psalm 71:6 |
“How would I describe my life?” I’ve been thinking about this question a lot over the course of the last nearly six months. You see, back in early August, I celebrated my 76th birthday. Even after all this intervening time, I haven’t fully formed an answer yet to the question: “How would I describe the span of my life?”
As you might imagine, there are things I have done that I greatly regret. There are things that I left undone that I also greatly regret. There are even a few things that I have done that I am so very grateful to God, who opened up the way for me to do them.
But, in thinking about this question—“How would I describe my life?”—in light of what God teaches us in His written Word, I’m seriously leaning in the direction of the thoughts expressed by the Psalmist from Psalm 71:6, 8-9:
From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you. My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.
Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
Yes, that describes the direction I want to pursue, as I consider how to sum up the span of my life so far. I certainly have learned to rely on God. Even as a relatively young boy, I had a sense that God loved me and was in the process of laying out a plan for my life. While I could never have predicted the pathway my life would take, I had a calm assurance that God was preparing a straight path for me to follow.
Then, in 1998 when my health began to fail, and especially when my mobility became more and more impaired, while I didn’t particularly enjoy what was happening to me, deep down in the core of my being I sincerely believed—and continue to believe—that what was happening to me was a part of God’s plan for my life.
Oh, I still complain to Him from time to time—almost every day, in fact. I even become quite irritated and distressed that I cannot do the things that I once did with ease. But, underneath all of my disappointment and even discouragement at times, I still know that God is at work in my life “to will and to work for His good pleasure” ( Philippians 2:13).
I want to make certain, particularly in these last years of my life, that my mouth is filled more with praise than with complaining. I want to be quick to acknowledge that all I am and all I have has come to me as a precious gift from God—a gift that, quite frankly, I do not deserve.
Let me be so bold as to suggest this admonition for all of us:
“May we lift our voices in praise to God this day: first and foremost because of who He is—the all-powerful God of the Universe. And then, let’s praise Him because He loves us and has given us His Son as our Savior and Lord.”
Surely, if we praise Him as we should, He will prove Himself gloriously faithful to the very end of the span of our lives here on earth. Yes, God’s love will prevail all the way to end of our lives here on earth and beyond.
Originally posted on Friday, January 30, 2015
