2016年2月26日
年老的挑戰How to Grow Old
读经: 以賽亞書46章4-13節
Reading: Isaiah 46:4-13
我必懷抱，也必拯救。-以賽亞書46章4節
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.- Isaiah 46:4
全年读经: 民數記15-16章;馬可福音6章1-29節
Bible in a Year: Numbers 15–16; Mark 6:1-29
我遇見那84歲的老朋友，隨口就問她說：「婆婆，妳今天好嗎？」她指著關節的疼痛處，低聲說：「當老人真難啊！」接著她又認真加上一句：「但是上帝一直對我很好。」
「逐漸變老是我人生中最感到意外的事。」葛理翰在《接近天家》一書中說，「我現在老了，相信我，這不是一件容易的事。」然而葛理翰又提到，「聖經並沒有粉飾我們年紀漸長時所會面臨的難題；但也沒有將老年時期描繪成一個受人鄙視、造成負擔，或必須咬緊牙關強忍的階段。」他還談到一些自己逐漸變老後不得不面對的問題，例如：「在學習處理自己所面臨的恐懼、掙扎和愈來愈多的限制時，如何同時使內心變得更堅強，即使困難依然存在。」
在以賽亞書46章中，上帝向我們保證：「直到你們年老⋯⋯髮白，我仍懷搋。我已造作，也必保抱；我必懷抱，也必拯救。」 （4節）
我們不知道自己在地上的年歲有多長，也不知道自己年老時可能面臨什麼難題，然而有一件事是確定的：上帝必看顧我們，終其一生。
主，求祢指教我們怎樣數算自己的日子，
好叫我們得著智慧的心。（詩篇90篇12節）
別怕變老，有上帝同行！
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"How are you today, Mama?" I asked casually. My 84-year-old friend, pointing to aches and pains in her joints, whispered, "Old age is tough!" Then she added earnestly, "But God has been good to me."
"Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life," says Billy Graham in his book Nearing Home. "I am an old man now, and believe me, it's not easy." However, Graham notes, "While the Bible doesn't gloss over the problems we face as we grow older, neither does it paint old age as a time to be despised or a burden to be endured with gritted teeth." He then mentions some of the questions he has been forced to deal with as he has aged, such as, "How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and growing limitations we face but also actually grow stronger inwardly in the midst of these difficulties?"
In Isaiah 46 we have God's assurance: "Even to your old age and gray hairs . . . I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you" (v. 4).
We don't know how many years we will live on this earth or what we might face as we age. But one thing is certain: God will care for us throughout our life.
Lord, please teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (See Psalm 90:12)
Don't be afraid to grow old; God goes with you!