Psalm 102:27 "But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end."
A year or two ago, I was preaching at a church in the western U.S. In between the two morning services, a lady came up to me and said, "Guess how old I am." I may not be brilliant, but guessing a woman's age is usually not a good idea! She pressed the question, so finally I said, "Twenty-five?" We both enjoyed a laugh, and then she said, "No, I'm eighty!" After the service, I retold the funny story to the pastor, and he was not surprised. He said, "In America, we worship youth; in her home country, they respect age."
The truth is, anything that is new will eventually grow old. Everything changes. Verse 11 aptly describes our lives: "My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass." A late-afternoon shadow eventually melts into a thousand other shadows until it becomes one night. Just like a shadow, your life will one day melt into a sea of people who have preceded us. Just like an old garment, you are aging every day (verse 26).
There is an old adage that "some things never change." Really? Name one! Human nature never changes, but everything else does! Some of us are fascinated by the new and cutting edge. The newest, latest and greatest thing today will be old in a very short time. Things are getting older at a quicker rate than they ever have before. Think of the cell phone in your pocket. Do you remember what they were like ten or twenty years ago? I thought I was cutting edge when I got a bag phone for my '93 Escort GT! Calling someone's house phone used to be the only way to reach him; then the car phone came along. Now you can reach someone if they have a phone in their pocket!
This psalm reminds us that stability is found in the unchangeable God. Stability is not found in anything or anyone, anywhere at any time. Everything changes, but God does not change. So focus on His truth, not on the culture. Sometimes, when working with young people, folks are fascinated with youth culture and trying to be a teen. You don't need to act like a teen to help teens; be you, and take the Word of God. You don't have to make the Bible relevant--it is! It can help teens (and adults, for that matter) in literal, current, concrete ways.
Other folks are fascinated by "old-fashioned," but when was God ever fashionable? He was never fashionable because He was never fashioned--God made us. Anything or anyone that was ever new became old or died young. Stability in life comes from the unchangeable God, and that is Whom we put our trust in today. He was the God for young people in 1950 and in 1989; and He is the God for young people (and adults) in 2010 because God does not change.
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