Attitudes to Counteract
Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
The older I get, and the more I talk with and listen to older people, the more I sense a growing discontentment rather than acceptance. I witnessed it in my own father during the last decade of his life. My mother died in 1971, but he (although 15 years older than she) lived on to 1980. He lived a number of those years in our home with us, allowing us a never-to-be-forgotten occasion to observe firsthand the agony of aging alone, even though he was surrounded by our family of six who wanted to relate to him, express our love, and include him in the mainstream of our world. We detected that “Pee-Po” had adopted a series of attitudes that made a close relationship extremely difficult if not impossible.
Because they are not unique to him, I share them openly. Without wanting to sound critical, I believe it is correct to say that these attitudes come from our fallen, sinful nature . . . not from the Lord. They are therefore terribly demoralizing.
- Uselessness
- Guilt
- Self-Pity
- Fear
I do not want to seem without compassion when I write this next sentence, but it needs to be said right up front. As natural and understandable as feelings of uselessness, guilt, self-pity, and fear may be, they do not come from God. The Lord does not prompt those feelings—we do. They are strictly and completely human in their source, leaving us caught in their undertow. To strengthen our grip on aging, these feelings must somehow be counteracted.
God’s Word never fails to guide us into the right perspective on life. Psalm 90 is no exception. Written by an older gentleman (Moses) in his eighties—perhaps even older than that—the psalm takes a brief but accurate look at life. It begins by reminding us that God is ageless.
So how do we make heads or tails of it? Is there some guideline, some piece of advice, some divine principle to follow that will help us strengthen our grip on aging? Yes! “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12, NIV 1984).
