Old Age

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 26th of October 2022, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

“Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
Psalm 92:13

“But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.”
Numbers 14:24

We still bear fruit even in our old age. Remember, age is just a number and you are as old as you feel! It saddens me sometimes when I hear of young people, only newly married, talking about their retirement package and the cottage that they are going to live in when they retire. I still haven’t got one! You are as old as you feel and I want to say to you today that you need a fresh vision. As they say, if you aim at nothing you are sure to hit it.  

I am sharing this story with you because I had the privilege of going to a game reserve a short while ago and I saw a sad situation. We were driving down one of the roads and there were a group of cars collected together, and straight away I said to my wife, Jill, ”There must be a lion or a leopard there.” Sure enough, there was a massive male lion, lying under a tree with a big black mane which made him look twice as big, a noble beast. I parked next to a motorcar and I asked the lady, “Where does this lion come from?”. She was a warden’s wife and said, “This lion has been in a fight. His brother was killed last night. He is badly wounded because there are young lions that have come into the area and they are taking over the pride, and he probably won’t make it until tomorrow." Well, I must say I was rather sad. 

Driving on a bit, I saw an old daka boy. Do you know what a daka boy is? Well “udaka” means mud in the Zulu language. The old buffalos that have been chased out of the herd by the young bulls stay by themselves. They go down to the river and roll in the mud, and they are called daka boys, and they just stay on their own. Then I went on a bit further and I saw an old tusker, standing underneath a tree by himself, and I thought, “Wow Lord, old age!”. But you know something? I realised they still have a role to play, each and every one of them. Without the old tusker, there is no order in the game reserve. Without those senior animals, there is no direction for the younger animals. We need to realise Moses was eighty when God called him to take His people out of Egypt. Joshua was also eighty when he took the people through the Jordan River into the Land of Milk and Honey, and Caleb was eighty-five when he said, “Give me the big mountain where the giants live.” Let's stand up today and finish the job that God has given us to do.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.