Gray Hairs!

Francis Bourdillon , 1873

Are you old, or getting into old age? Are gray hairs on your head? Perhaps it has been now so for some time. Long ago a white hair or two began to show here and there, and as years went on, more and more white hairs came, until now, it may be, you have scarcely a black one left. This is the case, not with you only, but with nearly all who advance in life; we get gray hair as we grow old!

But have you ever thought of the connection of these two things and of their consequences? Samuel said, "I am old and gray-headed" (1 Samuel 12:2); and David prayed, "Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not forsake me" (Psalm 71:18). In these two cases we see that gray hairs reminded David and Samuel that they were getting old and drawing near to the end of life.

My friend, do not forget your gray hairs. Take them as a warning that your days are getting to an end. Probably you have many like warnings . As your head grows white—it may be that your joints also stiffen, your limbs become weak, your hearing dull, and your sight dim. Perhaps one must speak loud now to make you hear, and you may scarcely be able to read even such print as this without your glasses. Now all these are God's warnings to you that the end is coming.

Are you ready for it? Are you at peace with God? Have you given yourself up to Christ by faith, so that your sins are washed away in the blood of the Lamb?

When the apostle Paul was old like you, he said, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing!" (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Your time of departure is at hand too—you must soon die—your grey hairs tell you so. Are you ready? Have you fought a good fight? Have you finished the course God gave you to run? Have you kept the faith? Do you love to think of Christ's coming? And when He comes, do you think He will have a crown for you? Perhaps you cannot say all that Paul said; perhaps you have not lived to God as he did; but at least, have you now at last turned to God and sought pardon through Jesus Christ?

Ah! If not, what are you waiting for? You are forgetting your gray hairs. When you were young, perhaps you used to say, "Time enough yet! I will begin to think about death when I am a gray-headed old man." Well, that is just what you are now, and yet you have not begun. I say again, "What are you waiting for?" You have lost too much time as it is—lose no more. It is never safe to put off seeking God, and still more dangerous is it to do so when gray hairs warn you that your time is short. A little longer, and it will be gone. It is not gone yet, thank God. As old as you are, you may yet find mercy if you seek it at once; and thus your last days may be your best.

Old age ought to be WISE — the gray-headed should know more than the young. Thus Eliphaz said to Job: "What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us? Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, much older than your father" (Job 15:9-10). But if you know not Christ as your Savior—then you are behind many of the young. Shall a man in the prime of life be thinking about death; shall one in the bloom of youth give his heart to God; shall even a little child love Jesus Christ—and will you, an old gray-headed man, still live with no thought for your soul? Is this as it should be? Why, they ought to be learning of you— whereas you are far behind them. You are old and they are young—and yet they have got on some way toward Heaven, while you have not set out. Thus David's words come true, "I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts" (Psalm 119:100).

Oh! It is a sad thing to see a careless old man. We look at his gray hairs and feeble steps, and we say, "It can't be long—his time must be near." But he does not seem to think so himself. "Gray hairs are here and there on him—yet he does not know it!" (Hosea 7:9). He is just as fond of the world as ever—his mind is set on trifles. He sees one old friend after another drop off—yet he seems to think that his own turn will never come. Still he talks of getting better and wonders what makes him so weak and says, "If I could but get rid of my cough, or if I could sleep better at nights, or if I could take my food better—then I would soon be all right again."

Alas! Old man, your complaint is one that no doctor can cure—old age. Let your own gray hairs teach you that. Your thoughts should be on the world to come, the world that will last forever. What is this fleeting world to one like you? Are you not almost done with it? And will you cling to it still, though you cannot keep it?

You cannot make yourself young again—you cannot get rid of your grey hairs, for "you cannot make one hair white or black" (Matthew 5:6). You must get older and older, and then die. Yet you may have a happy old age. Many old people have found their last days their happiest—the storms of life now hushed into a calm, the power of sin subdued, strong passions and evil tempers softened and changed, the grace of God stronger in the soul, doubts and fears passed away, hopes brighter, assurance more clear and firm, the fruit of the Spirit more abundant, Christ more near and more precious. Often the old age of the Christian is like this. Happy is such an old age!

Why grieve for the body failing, when the soul is thus ripening for Heaven? Why be sorry that earthly things are slipping away, when better things are opening to the view? What are loss of sight and hearing—to one who will soon see Jesus face to face! (1 Corinthians 13:12)? How happy was "Paul the aged" (Philemon 9) waiting for his crown! And Simeon, ready to "depart in peace," when once he had seen the salvation of God (Luke 2:29)! And Anna, a widow of eighty-four years, serving God with fastings and prayers night and day, and at length blessed with a sight of the Savior (Luke 2:37)! Even on earth godliness brings honor to the aged, for, "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory—if it is found in the way of righteousness" (Proverbs 16:31).

It is true, old age has its trials . The aged suffer from weakness and often from aches and pains. Sometimes it happens that they are left alone in their old age—their children all married or scattered, and most of their old friends dead and gone. But God is near them and has given to His people special promises for this very time, saying: "Even to your old age I am He; and even to gray hairs will I carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you" (Isaiah 46:4).

David prayed, "Do not cast me not off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails" (Psalm 71:9), and that prayer will surely be answered to every aged person who faithfully makes it. God is always nearest to us, when we need Him most; and when we are weak, then are we strong (2 Corinthians 12:10)—because He strengthens us. When the old feel their strength going, they sometimes fear that they shall be forsaken; this is when faith is weak. Perhaps David felt somewhat of this when he offered that prayer, "When I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not forsake me" (Psalm 71:18). But God is better to us than all our fears.

No, God will not fail you in your old age, if you trust Him. Is your hope set on the Lord Jesus? Then fear not. He will keep you to the end. Though all else should fail you, He will not. You may be left alone in the world—poor, weak, and ailing. But you will have Him still—and is not He better than all? He will make all your bed in your sickness . He will give you the comfort of His presence. He will even raise up friends for you, if you need them. Only trust yourself to Him who has helped you hitherto, and you will find Him faithful to every word of promise. Wait patiently. Abide His time. "For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry" (Hebrews 10:37). And then you will be old and weak no more; and where Jesus is, there shall you be forever.

One word more to the old but careless. Ah, think of these things. Why should not you be happy too? Even now, as late as it is, you may find God and be happy. Come, gray-headed old man, listen and be persuaded to come at last to Jesus. You have spent a life without Him—now in your last days come to Him. It is your eleventh hour, and you have stood all the day idle—yet still He calls you in (Matthew 20:6). How good He is! He might shut the door against you, but He does not. Still He calls you in—into His vineyard, into His grace, into mercy, pardon, salvation—all through His own precious blood.

Yes! Precious blood indeed! So precious that it both can and will atone for a whole life of sin—if even at the last, through grace, the aged sinner turns to God and seeks mercy.

Will you not turn? Will you not seek? Oh, by your gray hairs and failing strength, listen to the Savior's voice! It is the eleventh hour; your day is fast going down; your sun will soon be set; the night comes, in which no man can work. "Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light" (Ephesians 5:14). May the Holy Spirit speak these words with power to your soul!