Day 23 | February Devotional from Psalms - "Something Only an Older Person Can Give You"

Saturday, February 23, 2019 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments

My father teaching Bible study at Wheeler rescue mission for men

Psalm 71:18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.

As I increasingly become "old and grayheaded," there are some interesting things I have learned: 

1. Age is only a number, but it is a number that both gains respect and contributes to alienation.
2. Only things that are important deserve time and attention. Drama and frivolous things all get moved to the margins.
3. Living a long time has proven God's faithfulness over and over again. There is no doubting God.
4. The things that have value and things that don't become abundantly clear.

Thursday and Friday, there were two occasions that reminded me of David's words, "O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come."

#1 - On Thursday, I accompanied my father, Rev. Horace Bryan Hudson, to Wheeler Mission Ministries in downtown Indy yesterday. At 82 years old and still preaching the gospel, playing his guitar, and singing God's praises! He’s been doing this for almost every month for more than 30 years! He continued going for 15 years after my mother passed. They sang and ministered together until she was no longer able to participate. I've been going with him for three years and I share a brief exhortation with the men before he brings the main Bible lesson. Dad is "declaring strength" to the men.

Me spending time mentoring a young man

#2 - On Friday, I spend some time with the son of a friend and mentee who passed back in October of 2018. As a young man, he still needs the influence of "father like ones." We talked about life and God's word. I could see that he was encouraged by another one of our visits together.

The great benefit of age-with-wisdom is the ability to "declare strength" to the younger generation and impart power (authority and ability) through personal encounters. It is something that deeply impacted me from the time I spent with older men and women growing up. I proactively sought them out. The level of knowledge and wisdom inside of older people is amazing--if we have the good sense to seek it (because they don't have the time or energy to go around trying to hand it out).

One of the worse feelings is to watch a younger person languish, get caught up in empty pursuits, and fail to walk in wisdom---only for a lack of insight from older people who have knowledge/wisdom (as distinct from older people who lack wisdom!). 

Older people can only act based on willingness for younger people to receive and by invitation. I pray that we will all seek to gain the strength and power that can only come from interactions with older people who have strength and power from God to give.
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Reflection Question: Who do you need to seek out for wisdom and knowledge?

Today’s action item based on insight: