Chapter-a-Day Psalm 71

Now that I am old and gray,
do not abandon me, O God.
Let me proclaim your power to this new generation,
your mighty miracles to all who come after me.
Psalm 71:18 (NLT)

One of the things I’ve learned from the stage is knowing your part and your place. I’ve played parts under many different directors. Some of them have been brilliant and knew far more than I will ever know. Others have been inexperienced and clearly struggled with what they were doing. In either case, my job is still the same: to play my part to the best of my ability.

I was a young man in my twenties when I was working in pastoral ministry. I was subjected to regular interrogations about my youth and inexperience. I felt under constant scrutiny. Times change. I’m a little further down life’s road and I’ve finally got a little life experience and wisdom behind me. It’s funny, however. Now I tend to feel old and irrelevant to the generations who follow after me. From young and suspect to old and irrelevant, the tipping point came and went without me noticing.

Perhaps that is the way of it. You can’t control such things. Psalm 71 is a lament from David’s elder years. I can’t imagine what he experienced as he got older. He was the boy hero of Israel who slew Goliath and then led countless military exploits for both Israel and Judah. He made his name on youth, strength, and the physical deeds of a warrior. He must have grieved getting older and coming to the realization that the things which made him famous were only a distant memory.

I can’t control who is directing  a show. I can’t control time. I can’t control the doubts or perceptions of others. There will always be critics. The only thing I control is the part I play. I control what I do and say and write each day. As the Bard said, “All the world’s a stage” and as I play out my part I have an audience of one. In old age I will recite the same soliloquy and proclaim the same Message I communicated when I was young. I will play my part to the best of my ability.  In this I have faith that I’m playing for the most creative and brilliant Director that has ever been and will ever  be. What He chooses to do with me on this grand stage is totally His call. He has a grand vision for this production called life which is beyond my capacity to comprehend. My job is simply to play the part I’ve been given to the best of my ability.

Places.

Related articles

• You Are There (lindsayrottmeyer.wordpress.com)
• The Story of David and Goliath (Israel vs. the World) (lynleahz.com)
• ~ Emergency Prayers ~ (jericho777.wordpress.com)
• Jezebel: Setting the stage (womenfromthebook.com)