CAST ME NOT OFF IN THE TIME OF OLD AGE

This psalm begins with the cry, “let me never be put to confusion”. This might be rendered, “let me never be ashamed” (J.N.D.). In this plea, the psalmist expressed, not so much a fear of being let down, but rather his desire to trust in Jehovah forever. Those who trust Him will never be let down. Of Israel’s fathers it is recorded, “they trusted in thee, and were not confounded”, Psa. 22. 5. Paul also quotes, “whosoever believeth on him shall not be confounded”, Rom. 9. 33 marg., being a reference to Isaiah 28. 16 LXX. The psalmist’s trust was not only sincere but long-standing, “from my youth”, v. 5. His dependence upon Jehovah is portrayed in v. 6, “By thee have I been holden up from the womb”. As a helpless babe is held in the strong and loving hands of its father, so he had rested in Jehovah’s strength. After a life of trust and experience of God’s faithfulness, it would be unthinkable that at the onset of old age and failing strength, God could cast him off, v. 9. This would be putting him to confusion.

In God’s economy, no one is made redundant or considered too old. “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age”, Psa. 92. 14. When one hundred years old, Abraham “considered not his own body now dead”, Rom. 4. 19; it was in later life that he had his richest experience of God. Daniel, a youth when he went into captivity, grew up in Babylon to become a powerful influence there. He must have been at least eighty years old when cast to the lions. Despite advancing years, God’s secrets were still revealed to him. These noble characters caught the admiration as well as the hostility of some. So it was with our psalmist who said, “I am as a wonder unto many”, v. 7.

“Thou hast given commandment to save me”, v. 3, is of interest regarding the means employed in answering prayers; cf. Psa. 44. 4. God commands angels, Dan. 9. 23; 10. 12; 2 Chron. 32. 21, 22; men, as in the case of Cyrus the Persian monarch, 2 Chron. 36. 22; Ezra 1. 1; and sometimes the forces of nature, Psa. 107. 25-29.

“We faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day”, 2 Cor. 4. 16.