God Sustains the Faithful

As we head into a new year there is one thing we all know for certain, we are all getting older. It is reassuring to know that God is with us throughout all stages of our life. Two passages of scripture reassure us of this truth – Psalm 71 and Isaiah 43.

David states, “You are my hope; O Lord Yehovah, You are my confidence from my youth. By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother’s womb; (Psalm 71:5-6).” David is looking back at God’s care for him in his youth, his birth and even while he was being formed in his mother’s womb.

Isaiah echoes these truths as God speaks to His people: “You who have been borne by Me from birth

And have been carried from the womb; (Isaiah 46:3). God has cared for His people since their birth and was involved in their development and birth.

But what about as we get older? David prays, “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails (Psalm 71:9).” Isaiah relates God’s answer to that prayer “Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you (Isaiah 46:4).”

Why does David want God to sustain him? He wants to continue to share the message of salvation with all. “O God, You have taught me from my youth, and I still declare Your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come (Psalm 71:17-18).”

We never retire from serving God. As we grow older we share God’s truths with our children and then later our grandchildren (Deuteronomy 6:7). God instructs older men and women to be examples, “speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, … teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored (Titus 2:1-5).”

We can look forward to a life of purpose even as we age for God will sustain us as we serve Him. God promises that we “will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green, to declare that Yehovah is upright; (Psalms 42:14-15). We have hope in God’s faithfulness, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16).