"Down Through The Years The Lord Has Been Good To Me!

Banner of Praises Ministries

Rev. Dr. Levi Howard Wright, Pastor

"Down Through The Years,... "The Lord Has Been Good To Me"

Psalm 37:3-5 & 25

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

INTRODUCTION

Time will bring about a change in our lives, in Psalm 37, it tell us not to be worried about the success of the wicked, but to trust God who has power to make our dreams come true. David wrote, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).

When we are walking with Jesus Christ in a surrended relationship and our hearts have been purified by His truth and love, then the desires of our heart will be godly desires.

In fact, when we are walking in a close relationship with Him, He will inspire us with dreams and desires that are from Him.

This psalm teaches us to commit our ways in life to the Lord and He will bring our righteous desires to pass in His timing. (Psalm 37:5)

In order for us to realize the dreams that God has placed in our hearts, we will need to exercise faith, being obedient and commited to the visions and dreams.

God’s promises can only be fulfilled in us as we obey the "Law of Use", described in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-29. Jesus taught His disciples that they must use and exercise the gifts that God had given them or they would lose them.

David acknowlegded that the Lord would be with us during every stage of our life, from the cradle to the grave, when he said... "I have been young and now I’m old. Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants or offsprings begging for food or bread.”(Psalm 37:25)

Whether we want to admit or not, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second, you and I are growing older!

Aging is a reality that many people try to escape or run away from.

➣ That’s why you sometimes see older men trying to look and act like young men...

➣ And older woman trying to look and act like young women!

➣ They’re old, but they try to dress young.

➣ They’re old, but they try to talk young.

➣ They’re old, but they try to behave like they’re young.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to keep alive the memories of our younger days, when we had plenty of vitality and energy.

But sooner or later Father Time and Mother Nature catches up with us and we have to say like the old song says..... “The old grey mare, just ain’t what she used to be.”

Forty years ago in 1967... I was honored as the “Best Athlete of the Year 1967”

I set track records in my school that have not been broken. When I’m home in Texas and when I see some of my old classmates and former coaches they talk about how great a trackster and football player I use to be.

“But today forty years later..... this old grey mare, just ain’t what he used to be.”

➣ It mesmerizes me when I observe a person who refuse to accept old age.

➣ It’s obvious from the lines on their faces and the wrinkles in their foreheads that their player and playette days have long been over.

➣ But you cannot tell them that they’re not in the game any longer, because they are still trying to convince young girls and young boys that they..... still have the juice and still got it going on!

➣ I believe that if you have gone out of business you... ought to take down your sign!

➣ There’s no sense in trying to keep the business open... if all of your merchandise is stale and out of date.

My brothers and sisters, it’s a "physical impossibility” to escape the reality of old age!

Aging and Old age is a natural progression of life.

I don’t care how many vitamins you take, or how well you watch your diet, or how much you exercise - you can’t stop yourself from getting old!

And then, it’s impossible "mentally."

It doesn’t matter how much you exercise your mind, or how many natural herbs you swallow, or how many books you read on memory retention… sooner or later, your thought processes will deteriorate and you won’t be able to remember people’s names or places you’ve been, or even what you went into the other room for!