The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"hope," Hebrew tiqvati (תִּקְוָתִי). "Thou art my hope, O Lord GOD." The aging psalmist does not look for new evidence that God can be trusted; his hope for what is ahead is built entirely out of what lies behind.

"trust from my youth," mivtachi minne'urai (מִבְטַחִי מִנְּעוּרָי). He grounds his confidence in a lifetime of God's care. Growing old in the faith is meant to make trust easier, not harder; every year adds another page to the record of God's keeping.

"holden up," nismakhti (נִסְמַכְתִּי), sustained, supported, leaned upon. The word is of a weight resting on a support. He has not been walking beside God so much as leaning on Him, and the leaning has never once given way.

"from the womb," mibbaten (מִבֶּטֶן). He traces God's sustaining hand all the way back to birth, to before he could know or choose anything. The argument is unspoken but powerful: the God who has carried him from the womb until now will surely not drop him at the end.

"took me out," gozi (גוֹזִי), he that severed me, brought me forth. Even his birth is credited to God, "thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels." He was a helpless infant whom God brought safely into the world, and that unbroken past faithfulness is the foundation of his praise, "continually of thee."

Explanation

Watch how the old believer reasons, because it is one of the sweetest arguments of faith. Facing the fears of age, he does not look for new evidence that God can be trusted; he looks backward, over the whole length of his life, and finds that God has been holding him up the entire way. "Thou art my trust from my youth... By thee have I been holden up from the womb... thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels." He traces God's sustaining hand all the way back to birth, further, to before he could know or choose anything, when he was a helpless infant God brought safely into the world. And the argument is unspoken but powerful: the God who has carried me from the womb, through youth, through every year until now, will surely not drop me at the end. A lifetime of God's faithfulness is the strongest possible ground for trusting Him in whatever remains. This is why growing old in the faith is meant to make trust easier, not harder; every year adds another page to the record of God's care, another reason to say "hitherto hath the LORD helped us." The old saint has the longest memory of God's mercies, and memory feeds hope: because He has held me from the first breath, He will hold me to the last. So when the years pile up and strength declines, do what this psalmist did: look back at the God who carried you from the womb, and let that long faithfulness steady your heart for all that is to come.

Gospel Focus

"By thee have I been holden up from the womb", this lifelong keeping is the believer's sure inheritance in Jesus Christ, who holds His own from first to last. The God who upheld David from the womb is the God who knew us before we were born, "before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee" (Jeremiah 1:5), and who has purposed to keep us to the end, "he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). Our salvation does not rest on our ability to hold on to God, which weakens with age and trial, but on His grip on us, which never fails, "neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28), for we are "kept by the power of God through faith" (1 Peter 1:5). And His promise reaches specifically to old age, "even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you... I will carry, and will deliver you" (Isaiah 46:4). The same Lord Jesus who bought us with His blood will hold us up through youth and age alike, and will not let go. So trace God's faithfulness back over your life, see His hand holding you from the womb, and rest in the Saviour whose keeping does not depend on your strength but on His own; He who held you from the first breath will hold you to the last, and raise you up at the last day.

Word Study

"cast me not off," Hebrew al-tashlikheni (אַל־תַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי), do not throw me away. Here is the honest prayer of the aged, and it names a fear the old know well and the young rarely consider: the fear of being discarded. The word is "to throw away," as one throws out a worn-out tool.

"time of old age," le'et ziqnah (לְעֵת זִקְנָה). The world has a cruel way of valuing people for what they can produce, and when the strength fails, the world's interest often fails with it. This is the particular season in which the prayer is needed.

"forsake me not," al-ta'azveni (אַל־תַּעַזְבֵנִי). The spiritual edge of the fear, sharpened by the enemies' taunt a few verses later, "God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him" (v11). The old saint is tempted to wonder whether God, too, values him only while he is useful. Men cast off the weak; God does not.

"my strength faileth," kikhlot kochi (כִּכְלוֹת כֹּחִי), when my power is spent, comes to an end. The word is of something used up to the last. Yet weakness is often the time of God's nearest care, and the God who upheld him in his strength will not forsake him in his weakness.

Explanation

This verse names a fear that the old know well and the young rarely consider: the fear of being discarded. The word "cast me not off" is tashlikh, "to throw away," and it captures the particular dread of age, that when a person's strength is gone and their usefulness seems spent, they will be treated as something to be thrown out, set aside, forgotten. The world has a cruel way of valuing people for what they can produce, and when the strength fails, the world's interest often fails with it; the aged can feel like a worn-out tool, no longer wanted. And there is a spiritual edge to the fear, sharpened by the enemies' taunt a few verses later, "God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him" (v11). The old saint is tempted to wonder whether God, too, values him only while he is strong and serviceable, and will drop him now that he is weak. This prayer answers that fear by bringing it straight to God, and the very act of praying it is faith, for it appeals to a God who is not like the world. Men cast off the weak; God does not. The God who was his "trust from my youth" (v5) does not love us for our usefulness but for His own mercy's sake, and He does not abandon His servants when their strength is spent. Indeed, weakness is often the time of God's nearest care, for "my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). So the aging believer may pray this prayer with confidence: the God who upheld you in your strength will not forsake you in your weakness. You are not a tool to be discarded, but a child to be carried home.

Gospel Focus

"Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth", this prayer is answered forever in Jesus Christ, who has promised never to forsake His own. The fear of being cast off is met by the Saviour's own word, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5), and "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Christ does not value His people by their strength or usefulness; He loved us and gave Himself for us while we were "without strength" (Romans 5:6), and He does not withdraw that love when age spends our powers. The enemy's taunt, "God hath forsaken him," was answered at the cross, where the only One ever truly forsaken was Jesus, who cried, "why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46), bearing our forsaking so that we might never be forsaken. Because Christ was cast off in our place, the believer will never be cast off; "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish" (John 10:28). So the aging saint, feeling strength fail, may rest in this: the Lord who held you all your life will not throw you away at its end. He carries His own to the very door of glory, and through death into life, and will never, ever let go.

Word Study

"taught me from my youth," Hebrew limmadtani minne'urai (לִמַּדְתַּנִי מִנְּעוּרָי). All his life God has been the teacher, "O God, thou hast taught me from my youth." The long schooling is what gives him something worth passing on.

"hitherto," ad-hennah (עַד־הֵנָּה), until now. "And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works." The word draws a line from birth to the present moment; the telling has kept pace with the teaching all the way.

"old and grayheaded," ziqnah vesevah (זִקְנָה וְשֵׂיבָה). The gray head is not useless. It is the keeper of the longest memory of God's strength, and that long experience of God is a treasure the young need.

"shewed thy strength," aggid zero'akha (אַגִּיד זְרוֹעֲךָ), declare thine arm. Notice the little word "until", for it gives old age a mission: "forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation." He does not ask to be spared for comfort's sake but to be kept alive for a purpose.

"this generation," ledor (לְדוֹר). The first audience is the people alive around him, his own children and grandchildren and neighbours. A life is not finished until the witness is handed on.

"every one that is to come," lekhol-yavo (לְכָל־יָבוֹא). And beyond them, those he will never see. He wants his remaining days spent declaring God's works so that the testimony of God's faithfulness runs on past his own death into generations yet unborn.

Explanation

Notice the little word "until" in verse 18, for it gives old age a mission. The psalmist prays, "forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come." He does not merely ask to be spared for comfort's sake, to live a little longer for its own sake; he asks to be kept alive for a purpose, and the purpose is to pass the testimony on. All his life God has been teaching him, "thou hast taught me from my youth," and all his life he has been telling it out, "hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works." Now, old and grayheaded, he sees one great task remaining: to hand what he has learned of God to "this generation" and to "every one that is to come." This is a beautiful and often forgotten truth about the aged in the faith: their long experience of God is a treasure the young need, and their remaining calling is to declare it. The gray head is not useless; it is the keeper of the longest memory of God's strength, entrusted to speak it to the next generation and the one after that. A life is not finished until the witness is handed on. So the old believer has a reason to live and a work to do, not to sit idle waiting for the end, but to "shew thy strength" to children and grandchildren and strangers, so that the testimony of God's faithfulness runs on past his own death into generations he will never see. Do not let the aging saints among us fall silent; draw out their testimony, and, if you are old, spend your last strength declaring the God who has kept you, "to every one that is to come."

Gospel Focus

"Until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come", this is the calling of every believer, young and old, fulfilled in the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ from generation to generation. The Lord Jesus commissioned His people to declare His works to all who come after, "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20), and Paul charged Timothy to entrust the truth onward, "the things that thou hast heard of me... the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2), a chain of testimony reaching "to every one that is to come." The gospel has come to us only because generation after generation of God's people "shewed his strength" to the next; and we owe the same debt forward. The aged saint's prayer to be kept "until" the witness is passed on is a prayer God delights to answer, for it is His own purpose that "one generation shall praise thy works to another" (Psalm 145:4). So whatever your age, take up this holy task: declare the strength of God, revealed supremely in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, to this generation and to every one that is to come, that the knowledge of the Saviour may run on until He returns.