Thoughts On Isaiah 46:4

“Even to hoar hairs will I carry you.” (Isa.46:4).

Old age could be called one of the tragedies of life. The beauty of youth, the vigour and action of mature years, fade and fall as the petals of the fairest flower. Inevitably time steals both strength and treasure. Friends depart, household ranks are thinned, many cherished hopes remain unrealised and the rushing torrent of new thought sweeps away old landmarks, with long cherished customs.

Enthusiasm sinks as the sap falls in the tree, shedding daily the autumn gold. A sober look at the problems of these last decades of life could be disquieting were it not for the caring, carrying power of Omnipotence. Days were when we ran and jumped and danced and sang with the best, when the glory of life irradiated every fibre of our being with a seemingly quenchless flame. But the days come when tired feet no longer run and tired eyes no longer see the road or the faces about them as once they saw.

Even the heart grows tired after its long labours, scarred maybe with sorrow, with well-fought battles and the pain of unshed tears. How good it is then to be lifted in the eternal Arms and carried over the last few laps of the road. This carrying power of God is the tender expression of love. It is God taking the load, bearing between his shoulders these who have grown old and grey in his service, fending for them when they are no longer able to fend for themselves.

Those who have fought a good fight have no reason to fear the tedium, the solitariness, the weakness which often attends the time when the frosts of many winters whiten and thin the once luxurious locks. He has said “I will carry you.” As a father picks up a tired child, carrying it home in triumph upon his shoulders, so will watchful love provide for saints going home, for God never yet forsook the heart which trusted him.

“I read from the past, that the future shall be far better than all my fears.”

(Streams in the Desert)
AOH