He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
Lamentations 3:4 (NIV)
Over 43 years ago, I broke my left wrist. I was riding my bike when a car pulled out in front of me. I flew off the bike and landed on my wrist. I wore a cast for eight weeks. For the next 35 years, I was fine. I did pushups and had great flexibility.
Then everything changed.
My flexibility is now gone. I have ongoing pain. I have even had a ganglion cyst for the past year (no, I have not smacked it with a Bible!).
It stinks getting older!
Even with my “getting older” issues, I cannot compare my suffering to that of the prophet Jeremiah. He was beaten and placed in stocks. He was imprisoned. He was lowered into a cistern and threatened with starvation.
Lamentations 3:4 captures the physical toll of suffering with the words, “He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.”
Ugh!
Eventually, Jeremiah died. I will too.
Of course, Lamentations is filled with expressions of grief and suffering. Jeremiah is even known as the weeping prophet. But suffering does not have the final word.
I think Psalm 30:5 says it well: “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
As I get older, I recognize that I will have aches and pains. But everything I experience in this life is temporary. The aches and pains of getting older will not last forever.
My joy is coming in the morning as I focus on eternity. In fact, no matter how old I get, I am one day closer to my permanent residence with Jesus!
In the meantime, I plan to be faithful in the temporary. I plan to love God and others. I plan to be His ambassador. I will be a faithful steward of what He has entrusted to me, including my own body. And I will embrace being a theologian by seeking to know God more intimately each day.
That is how I want to live my life in the temporary while remaining focused on the eternal!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, sometimes I join Jeremiah in lamenting what I experience in this temporary life. But I submit myself to You, knowing that eternity with You is coming. Help me to be faithful with each day You give me, even when getting older stinks!
— David Beauchamp
Temporary Ministries
For more Wednesday Words and other resources from Temporary Ministries, visit:
https://temporaryministries.org/wednesday-words/
