Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, but there is hope!.
Sunday, September 29, 2002
The older you get in this world, you either get better or worst.
Doctrine can even change people in their old age.
Old age is not a time of physical beauty but inner beauty.
No matter what a so-called older person may face in the declining years, like the loss of loved ones or friends, there should be an inner peace, an inner power, and an inner happiness which nothing can change.
jashab = to dwell in great peace and happiness and blessing and be at rest.
He looks forward, then he looks backward and then he will look upward.
The Hebrew says, he bowed his head on the top of his staff.
NIV - GEN 47:31 “Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
The staff represents that which we lean on - the promises of Gods word and the faith-rest life.
First - verses 4-6 - Jacob recalls a blessing. Second - verse 7 - Jacob recalls one of the most sorrowful moments of his life.
The tragedy about Jacobs life is that his bad moments made him miserable and his successful moments made him happy, because he was a slave to his circumstances even as a believer.
He looks back to teach us a great lesson that while life is made up of both happiness and sorrow, blessing and misery, God has provided for the believer for both occasions.
Gods provision, the inner resources, means that you can have happiness on the inside regardless of whether you are in a time of blessing or a time of adversity.
Doctrine can even change people in their old age.
Old is a term of time. It speaks of advancing on in years and/or losing the vigor of youth.
Generally speaking, the older you get the more unteachable you become.
Old people are very security conscious; young people usually could care less.
Divine discipline makes people old before their time, PSA 6:7.
PRO 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Robert R. McLaughlin All Rights Reserved 2002