First a thought to “young” people who may read this… Ecc 12:1, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them…'”
Is 65 over the hill? Consider this from John Piper…
At 65 Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of England, and for the next five years led the Western world to freedom.
At 69 English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson began his last major work,The Lives of the English Poets.
At 69 Ronald Reagan became the oldest man ever sworn in as President of the United States. He was reelected at 73.
At 70 Benjamin Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence.
At 77 John Glenn became the oldest person to go into space.
At 77 Grandma Moses started painting.
At 82 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe finished writing his famous Faust.
At 82 Winston Churchill wrote A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.
At 88 Michelangelo created the architectural plans for the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
At 89 Albert Schweitzer ran a hospital in Africa.
At 89 Arthur Rubinstein performed one of his greatest recitals in Carnegie Hall.
At 93 Strom Thurmond, the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, won reelection after promising not to run again at age 99.
At 93 P.G. Wodehouse worked on his 97th novel, got knighted, and died.
Then I got to thinking about Biblical characters and their age to add to Dr. Piper’s list…
Noah was 600 when the flood came (Granted, a different time from ours)… Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born… Moses was close to 80 at the begining of the Exodus… Caleb was 85 when he drove mighty men from the land… Anna was 84, worshipping in the Temple day and night, when she saw Jesus… Zechariah was “advanced in years” (As was his wife) when he served in the Temple and told by an angel his son to be born would be the forerunner of the Messiah.
Ps 71:9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.
Ps 71:18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.
Ps 90:10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away ( Thus the song: “I’ll fly away oh glory… I’ll fly away…”).
Pr 16:31 Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.
There is no such thing as “retiring” from God’s Kingdom Call. Kind of puts things into perspective doesn’t it?
We definitely need to respect seniors more in our culture
Concerning Psalm 90:10, I have always read the KJV as saying that if we are able to make it to 80, that additional decade will be full of labor and sorrow. The translation you use leaves a little room to think that the whole span (0-80) might be full of toil and trouble. Doesn’t matter much. What matters is Phil. 1:21. Paul was right on target!
As a senior, I appreciate this post. God is good all the time. Thanks!