Frailty And What Comes With It

I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.  Psalm 119:168

Charles Spurgeon calls this Psalm ‘David’s life-psalm’.  At the end of it, the verses are a bit shorter, more pointed, like David is breathing out the things most important to him in short musical phrases.

Oh, to be able to say at the end of one’s life that, even in old age, there is a resolve to keep God’s ways because there is still the keen awareness that God’s eyes are upon His children.  God said to Abraham in his old age, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.” Gen.17:1 While some might argue that the pressure should be lessened, considering the fragility that often comes with old age, David would not agree.  As the sunset of his life appears on the horizon, he reviews God’s graces and renews his vows.

Here’s the challenge.  The condition of body and soul affect the spirit.  When I’ve been sick, it’s been hard to connect to spiritual passion.  Everything felt dull, including my spiritual life.  Since old age brings with it decreased energy, physical ailments, and a constant series of losses, spiritual passion can easily be threatened.

God’s grace comes in many shapes and sizes.  It is as varied as the sands of the sea.  It is given according to what the needs are.  In the senior years of our lives, God will give daily grace for our obedience; grace to love Him, grace to feel His presence, and a special grace given by the Spirit as He cups His hand around a flame that sometimes flickers, a flame of fidelity that is tested in the fires of frailty.

There are places, even today, where faith is as fragile as an egg-shell.  I cry out for your grace.  Amen