[This is the Twenty-eighth Day of Royal Bounty (the third of the five “Royal” books by F.R.H.).]
The Bright Side of Growing Older.
“And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt
shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.”—Job 11:17.
I suppose nobody ever did naturally like the idea of
getting older, after they had at least “left school.” There
Eccles. 1:4,5 is a sense of oppression and depression about it. The
Eccles. 11:8 irresistible, inevitable onward march of moments and
Job 9:25 years without the possibility of one instant’s pause—a
Psalm 90:9,10 march that, even while on the uphill side of life, is leading
to the downhill side—casts an autumn-like shadow over
even many a spring-birthday; for perhaps this is never
more vividly felt than when one is only passing from May
to June,—sometimes earlier still. But how surely the
Bible gives us the bright side of everything! In this case it
gives three bright sides of a fact, which, without it, could
not help being gloomy.
First, it opens the sure prospect of increasing bright-
I John 1:7 ness to those who have begun to walk in the light. Even
if the sun of our life has reached the apparent zenith, and
we have known a very noonday of mental and spiritual
being, it is no poetic “western shadows” that are to leng-
Job 11:17 then upon our way, but “our age is to be clearer than the
noonday.” How suggestive that word is! The light, though
Psalm 36:9 intenser and nearer, shall dazzle less; “in Thy light shall
we see light,” be able to bear much more of it, see it more
clearly, see all else by it more clearly, reflect it more
Zechariah 14:7 clearly. We should have said, “At evening-time there
shall be shadow”; God says, “At evening-time there shall
be light.”
Also, we are not to look for a very dismal afternoon of
life with only some final sunset glow; for He says it “shi-
Proverbs 4:18 neth more and more unto the perfect day”; and “more and
more” leaves no dark intervals; we are to expect a contin-
John 8:12 ually brightening path. “The future is one vista of bright-
I John 1:7 ness and blessedness” to those who are willing only to
“walk in the light.” Just think, when you are seven, or
ten, or twenty years older, that will only mean seven, or
ten, or twenty years ”more experience of His love and
2 Cor. 4:6 faithfulness, more light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ; and still the “more and
Proverbs 4:18 more unto the perfect day,” will be opening out before
Philippians 1:6 us! We are “confident of this very thing!”
The second bright side is increasing fruitfulness. Do
Matthew 7:20,22 not let us confuse between works and fruit. Many a
saint in the land of Beulah is not able to do anything at
Romans 7:4 all, and yet is bringing forth fruit unto God beyond the
busiest workers. So that even when we come to the
Eccles. 12:3 days when “the strong men shall bow themselves,” there
Song. 7:13; 4:16 may be more pleasant fruits for our Master, riper and
Psalm 92:14 fuller and sweeter, than ever before. For “they shall still
Jeremiah 17:7,8 bring forth fruit in old age”; and the man that simply
“trusteth in the Lord” “shall not be careful in the year of
drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
Galatians 5:22,23 Some of the fruits of the Spirit seem to be especially
and peculiarly characteristic of sanctified older years; and
do we not want to bring them all forth? Look at the splen-
Romans 4:19-21 did ripeness of Abraham’s “faith” in his old age; the gran-
Deut. 34:1,5 deur of Moses’ “meekness,” when he went up the moun-
Ephesians and tain alone to die; the mellowness of St. Paul’s “joy” in his
Philippians later epistles; and the wonderful “gentleness” of St. John,
which makes us almost forget his early character of “a
Mark 3:17 son of thunder,” wanting to call down God’s lightnings of
Luke 9:54 wrath. And “the same Spirit” is given to us, that we too
I Cor. 12:13 may bring forth “fruit that may abound,” and always “more
Phil.4:17;Jn.15:2 fruit.”
Isaiah 46:4 The third bright side is brightest of all: “Even to your
Matthew 28:20 old age, I am He”; always the same Jehovah-Jesus; with
Isaiah 63:9 us “all the days,” bearing and carrying us “all the days”;
Isaiah 46:4 reiterating His promise—“even to hoar hairs will I carry
Isaiah 40:11 you . . . ; even I will carry and will deliver you,” just as He
I John 2:13 carried the lambs in His bosom. For we shall always be
Isaiah 63:16 His little children, and “doubtless” He will always be our
Hebrews 1:11,12 Father. The rush of years cannot touch this!
Fear not the westering shadows,
O Children of the Day!
For brighter still and brighter,
Shall be your homeward way.
Resplendent as the morning,
With fuller glow and power,
And dearer than the noonday,
Shall be your evening hour.
Twenty-eighth Day of Royal Bounty (the
third of the five “Royal” books by F.R.H.).]