Helen with Ethiopian pastors on a Christian TV show

Hey, I’m still here!!

By Helen Jesze, 27^th January 2023

“Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?”

Job 12:12 NIV

“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.”

Psalm 71:18 NIV

“With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Psalm 91:16 NIV

A friend of mine lost her husband at 60 years old from a terminal illness. I have changed their names and we will call them Wendy and Bob. Having 6 children, they were a close-knit family. Wendy and Bob taught Bible-studies together and took part in many church activities. Bob was also the leader of the local group of an organisation which concentrated on reaching men for Christ, and they organised monthly rallies. Their life was very full and they were an excellent team together.

After Bob’s death, Wendy went along to their church workers’ meeting, just the same as she and Bob had always done. Various topics were discussed by all, but Wendy was never mentioned and she was given no opportunity to take part in any of the new outreaches. She sat there, not believing her ears and she felt like running out of the room and bursting into tears. But something rose up within her and she said, in a loud determined voice, “Hey, I’m still here! Haven’t I got anything to give? Can’t you use me now that Bob’s not here any more?!”

Everybody was shocked. They had not meant to be unkind, but they had fallen into the old thought that when the husband was no longer there, his widow had to take a back seat, she was not complete now that she was on her own. This was not the case, Wendy still had a great deal to give and not long after, she started a Christian group which aimed especially at helping widows spiritually and in practical ways. What the enemy, Satan, had meant for evil, God turned it around for good and used Wendy in a new way.

Some of you who are in England may know the TV program Hetty Wainthrop Investigates. Hetty retires from her fulltime job at 60 years old, and realises she may have another 20 or more years ahead of her. What can she fill her time with?! She is already bored on the first day, and she decides to open a private detective agency. With her husband at home taking the phone calls and a teenager who gives her lifts on his moped and undertakes some of the work, she has great success, for who would suspect that this plump, not very fashionably- dressed elderly lady is sizing them up and finding the guilty party?!

Rather like Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, who is even older than Hetty, but with a mind as sharp as a tack, who unravels the plot and discovers the murderer!

Well, what has all this got to do with you and me? Simply this, that whatever our age, we can make a difference, God has a place for us, plans to use us for the wellbeing of others and for his glory. While the world – and very often the Church – thinks only of young people being of any use, I believe God thinks differently. People are living longer than they have ever done. Some pastors are recognising this and bringing in a pastor for their elderly congregation who is there especially to help them. Valuable Life-lessons can also be gleaned from elderly people if the younger ones are humble and respectful enough to want to hear from them.

And what about the thinking of us older, or shall I say more mature people? Have we grown so set in our ways? Has determination become stubbornness, and we are not prepared to look at any new method, take advice from someone younger, because we think we know it all? If so, let’s ask the Lord to change our hearts and thinking, and begin to reach out. Although we may have some physical problems, yet we should also see that our very life is precious and it is not just given to us for ourselves, but to influence our world and those we meet, for good. It is easy to withdraw and isolate ourselves, on losing a loved one, either by death, separation or divorce or on going through a tragedy of some kind. Wendy could have done that, but she looked outward and realised that God had a plan for her alone, not just with Bob, and she must discover what that was.

God has promised that he will “satisfy us with long life”, that he will carry and care for us until our old age. I want to encourage especially my older readers today, that you count for something, God knows just where you are! Shake off despondency and begin to ask the Lord how you can be used by him. He will show us all the next steps to take and open new vistas and doors, bring new creativity, pour out a new anointing of his Holy Spirit, that we might experience what Psalm 71:18 says – that we would “show his mighty acts to the next generation!”