Down Through The Years The Lord Has Been Good To Me

Down Through The Years,

The Lord Has Been Good To Me

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Psalm 37:25

My brothers and sisters, the opening words of our text in Psalm 37 could have been written by any of us, for they speak the truth that each of us know all too well. “I have been young and now I’m old.” Whether we want to admit it or not, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second, you and I are getting older. It’s a reality that some folk try to escape or run away from. That’s why you sometimes see old men trying to look and act like young men. And older women trying to look and act like young women. Somebody know what I’m talking about. They’re old, but they try to dress young. They’re old, but they try to talk young. They are old, but they behave like they’re young. And my brothers and sisters don’t misunderstand me this morning, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to keep alive memories of our younger days, when we had a lot of vim and vigor.

But oh brothers and sisters, sooner or later, father time catches up with all of us and we have to say like the old song says, “The old grey mare, just ain’t what she used to be.” I smile when I see people who refuses to accept old age. It’s obvious from the lines on their faces and the furrows in their foreheads that their playing days have long been over, but you can’t tell some folk that they’re not in the game any longer, because they are still trying to convince young girls and young boys that they still got it going on. Can I get a witness? Oh brothers and sisters, 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 out dated. It’s physically impossible to escape the reality of old age or the idea of the fact that we are getting older. 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. Sometimes because of arthritis and rheumatism, you have to let parts of your body know that you are about to move. But not only that, it’s impossible to stop aging 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 keeping your memory, sooner or later your thought process will deteriorate and you won’t be able to remember folk names or places you’ve been or even what you went into the other room for. And oh brothers and sisters, I think I ought to tell you that old age brings about a change. Folk used to call you cute little pet name, but now they call you mama or daddy. You used to be able to stay up all night long, but now you have take a nap after lunch. You use to be able to run like a deer, but now you move like a snail. You used to be able to eat anything your heart desired and go on to bed, but now when you eat, you have to stay up while you let your food digest. You used to never take medicine, but now some of us take a pill for everything. I tell you things changes as you get older. But oh brothers and sisters, David here reminds us of one thing that never changes. God never changes. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever.

And if we look back over our life, you have to recognize that “Down through the years, the Lord has been good to us.” Have I a witness? Oh my brothers and my sisters, David speaks of God’s goodness in the past tense of his life. I have been young. In other words, God was good to me when I was young. The places I went, places that I could have been killed in, because I was young and foolish and didn’t see the danger that lurked in the club or at the parties, but still God had His hands on me. The stuffed that I drank, that could have poisoned me, but because I was young and everybody else was doing it, I didn’t see the danger that too much of anything is not good for you, but still, God had His hands on me. Anybody know what I’m talking about? I believe I can get one or two witnesses who know that for a fact down through the years God has been good to you. Am I right?