Flourishing in Old Age - HE Metropolitan Youssef
Psalm 92
12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
Alleluia
- King David is talking about the righteous person
- He compares him with a palm tree and the cedar (great trees that grow very high)
- "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord"
- For a tree to bring forth fruit, it needs to be planted in good ground - and the good ground is the house of the Lord
- Planted doesn't just mean "attends church" - but in the church life. Life of repentance, liturgical life.
- "They shall still bear fruit in old age"
- Usually when a tree gets old, it doesn't bring forth fruit - but what King David says is that this tree will still bear fruit
- Even if he is great in age, but his spirit is still like a youth - flourishing
- Bearing fruit in old age
- The world sees the time of old age as a time of weakness, having given up their strength
- But God sees it differently: "Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:16)
- Even if my body is getting weaker, my spirit can be getting stronger
- In youth, we plant. In old age, we harvest.
The Value of Later Years in God's Eyes
- God does not give anyone a day without meaning - He is the God of Life. Every period of our life has a message
- Later Years
- Message of Wisdom
- Message of Experience
- Message of Steadfast Faith
- A sign that someone lived in the pasture of the Lord