FRESH AND FLOURISHING

Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come – Psalm 71:18

God wants you to be FRESH and FLOURISHING (Psa. 92:14b). This takes our meditation on “Flourishing with Age” a step further. Ageing is a natural process and we can all recognise physical and attitudinal changes in ourselves as we get older. Undoubtedly, ageing comes with potential physical, mental, and financial challenges. In the natural, the “tell-tales” of old age include: losing hair, feeling stiff, groaning to bend, aching joints, needing more naps, moments of forgetfulness, feelings of loneliness, misplacing stuff, physical weakness, struggling to use new inventions and technology, complaining about more things, and choosing comfort over fashion. God however promised that the elderly believer or “Senior Saint” can remain “fresh and flourishing” well into old age (Psa.92:13-14). The believer is a spiritual personality, who is conscious of an intimate connection with the God of the Supernatural!

God’s Pattern for old age is the person described in Psalm 92:12-14: flourishing like a palm tree… still bearing fruit in old age, and being “fresh and flourishing”! That should be our goal: to be planted in a strong, growing relationship with the Lord, and to keep growing, serving, and bearing much fruit. As we grow older, we don’t want to coast or to stand on the side-lines. There is no hanging it up in Christian service if we are to be fresh and flourishing. Rather than ‘Retire’ we can ‘RE-FIRE’! God wants for you to enjoy your youth for as long as you can believe Him for it. You need not worry about getting old; about illness, loneliness, loss of memory or physical deterioration. Old age doesn’t have to be bad news. Indeed, the latter years of life can be the best part of life. God often reserves the best for the last (Jh.2:10). Age is more of an attitude than duration.

Psalm 71 offers seven broad insights into what fresh and flourishing Senior Saint looks like:

Discipline of personal devotion and the practice of continuous and persistent prayer (vv. 2-5)

Unfading Hope based in a deep trust in God: “In You, O LORD, I put my trust” (v.1); “For You are my hope, O LORD GOD; You are my trust from my youth” (v. 5). The faithful believer is not cynical or negative.

A life of continual and ever-increasing Praise:

• “By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall be continually of You” (v.6)
• “Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the day” (v.8)
• “But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more” (v.14).
• “Also with the lute I will praise You – and Your faithfulness, O my God! To You I will sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel” (v.22).
• “My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, and my soul, which You have redeemed” (v.23).

Proper use of the tongue: using your speech to spread the good news of God’s righteousness and wonderful works; not in destructive ways, like gossip and spreading seeds of discord. Six times in Psalm 71, the Psalmist refers to uplifting speech (vv.15-18; 23-24).

Tapping into the Supernatural Strength of the Lord: “I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only” (v.16).

Transgenerational Vision and Mission: that passes the faith to the next generation: “Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come” (71:18).

Faith in God’s sovereignty for Restoration and Revival: “You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again, and bring me up again from the depths of the earth” (71:20). This is the faith of Caleb that never accepts defeat; that never gives up; that never loses sight of the Vision of Greatness: “You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side” (v.21)!