LORD, HELP ME, I JUST WANT OUT!

LORD, HELP ME, I JUST WANT OUT!

I was visiting recently with an elderly lady in a nursing home.  There she sat in her chair by the wall, where she had been sitting the previous week.  So I stopped to visit and see how she was doing this week.  She looked at me and said, “I just want to die and go home.  I sit here day by day all alone looking at these four walls and no one seems to care anymore, and I have no purpose in this life.

Maybe you feel that way. You feel like life has passed you by.  You love the Lord and just want out of this life. Maybe you are not a senior at all, but circumstances in your life have led you to this point in your life.

I shared with her that we are on God’s timetable. He has numbered our days and put them in His book.  In Psalm 139:16 the Psalmist wrote these words: “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them (NKJ).  Think of that verse, my friend.  God numbered your days before you were even born and when your days end, according to God’s plan, He will take you home.  He has not called you to “escape” this life, but walk with Him and serve Him until the day comes when He calls you home.  But you may ask, “How can I serve Him, when things are so complicated in my life right now, and I feel like I can’t go on?” “ What can I do for Him?”  You can pray and be a witness for Him.  Read the words of this wonderful Psalm.  “Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come” (Psalm 71:18).  

You are called to be a witness to those around you, and especially to the next generation, your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  He calls you to pray and intercede for your family, your friends and neighbors and even those on your job. If you are in your senior years,   you will never be too old to serve God, never too old to pray.  Though age may stop you from certain physical activities, it need not end our desire to tell others, especially children, about all that we have seen God do in the many years of our lives.

So He wants to give you hope, to live in peace and joy, and to walk in His strength day by day, no matter what your age or circumstances.  As long as He gives you breath, He calls you to walk in victory.

There is another wonderful passage of scripture in Psalm 73:23-26: Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand.  You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.  Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Here is His promise to you.  You are always with Him, and He holds you by your right hand.  All your life He has guided you with His counsel, and then when it is time to go home, He will receive you into Glory.  There is no one in heaven but Him, and He is your complete desire on earth.  Your body will fail, and even your heart may fail, but God is the strength of your heart and your portion forever.  Praise the Lord!

Father, in the Name of Jesus, I lift up all those out there who feel that there is nothing left to live for.  They feel lost, forsaken and in despair.  But You, Jesus, came to give them life, hope, and the will to go on until that time when they are called home.  So give peace to your people, and hope to all who read this.  That because of Your great love, we can walk on in victory with You.  Amen

Pastor Sharon