(Letters of John Newton)
"Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone." Psalm 71:9
I am drawing nearer and nearer to the season which the Psalmist either expected or felt. Many reasons teach the aged believer the need of this prayer. As hisgraces are still imperfect--so his powers are feelingly upon the decline. It was but little he could do at his best--and now less and less!
He feels other props and comforts dropping off apace. When he was young, he had warm spirits and pleasing prospects; but now, what a change of the friends in which he once delighted! In some he has found inconstancy--they have forsaken and forgotten him; and others have been successively taken away by death. They have fallen like the leaves in autumn--and now he stands almost a naked trunk. If any yet remain, he is expecting to lose them likewise--unless he is first taken from them.
Old age abates, and gradually destroys the relish of such earthly comforts as might be otherwise enjoyed. Pains, infirmities, loss of sleep, the failure of sight and hearing, and all the senses--are harbingers, like Job's messengers arriving in close succession, to tell him that death is upon his progress, and is not far away!
If youth has no security against death--then old age has no possibility of escaping the grim monster. But though friends fail,cisterns burst, gourds wither, strength
declines, and death advances--if God does not forsake me--then all is well.
"Even to your old age and gray hairs--I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you!" Isaiah 46:4
Welcome!
Welcome! My name is Rich Hancock, and I am a senior citizen who has found great peace in his old age in the forgiveness that Jesus Christ offers to sinners. I enjoy reading my Bible and doing podcasts about things I have read. I also program Follow Jesus Radio. The goal of each podcast is to encourage us all to have faith in Jesus Christ and follow Him daily. Remember, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."