The Aged Christian in the House of God
Back to A Happy Old Age
The House of God has special charms for the Christian in his old age. There is a calm, quiet, soul-refreshing atmosphere there, which is peculiarly sweet to one who longs for rest. You can leave the noise and turmoil of the world, with all its vanities and sins — and there meet your God, and hold sweet fellowship with Him.
The Lord is everywhere. He is 'about our path, and about our bed.' But He is specially with us in His own House. There we feel His nearness, and we are sometimes ready to exclaim, as Jacob did at Bethel, 'Surely the Lord is in this place; this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!'
Good old Eli loved the Lord's House. Many a happy and blessed hour he spent in those sacred courts. David too rejoiced to be there: 'A day in your courts is better than a thousand spent elsewhere. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God — than dwell in the tents of wickedness.' Simeon enjoyed his visits to the Temple. There it was that he saw the Savior, whom he so greatly longed to behold. And this made him quite willing to die, 'Lord, now let you your servant depart in peace, according to your Word; for my eyes have seen your salvation.' We read also in the Gospels of one Anna, who was of a 'very old,' ' a widow of about eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.' The House of God was her delight. It seemed like a little heaven below. The voice of prayer and praise was music in her ears.
Well, dear friend, I hope you can say of the courts of the Lord, 'I love to be there. There I have spent my happiest moments. There I have found a peace, which the world can never rob me of. There I have often had my heart warmed with love to Christ and to His people. There I have oftentimes gone with a heavy burden — but I have left it behind me, and come away lightened.'
Dear is to me the Sabbath morn,
The village bells, the pastor's voice;
These oft have found my heart forlorn,
And these have bid my heart rejoice.
And dear to me the winged hour,
Spent in Your hallowed courts, O Lord;
To feel devotion's soothing power,
And catch the manna of Your Word.
And dear to me the loud Amen,
Which echoes through the blest abode,
Which swells, and sinks, and swells again,
Dies on the walls — but lives to God.
Oh, when the world, with iron hand,
Would bind me in its six days' chain,
Thus burst, O Lord, the strong man's band,
And let my spirit loose again!
But it is not every kind of church-going that does us good. Many a young person, and many an old one too — goes there without getting much profit. Let me offer you then a few friendly directions.
1. Always go to God's House expecting a blessing. Look out for it, and specially ask for it. Go in a devout spirit. Before you leave your home, kneel down for a moment or two and beg of the Lord to prepare your heart by His Holy Spirit, and enable you to worship Him as you ought.
2. When there, enter with all your heart into the service. During the prayers, join earnestly with your fellow-worshipers. It is not enough to sit quietly while your minister sends up his petitions to heaven; but pray the prayers yourself. Yes, pray them with all your soul.
3. When the verses are read out of God's Word — listen with your whole attention. It may be you have often heard those chapters before, or read them yourself; but they contain precious truths, which are always new to the hearing ear and the understanding heart.
4. During the sermon — be a humble listener. You should be as a little child — feeling that your knowledge is but small, and that you have much to learn. You should be like a hungry man — who comes to be fed, seeking to get your soul nourished by the bread of life. You should be like the thirsty soil — which waits to drink in the falling shower. If we all heard in this way — who can tell what blessings would flow from every service, and how many would come away from this ordinance of God filled and refreshed!
Perhaps you are growing deaf — and can only pick up a part of what is said by the preacher. Perhaps too your memory fails you — when you try to gather up what you have heard. Still, you can carry away something; and you will be thankful for that something, if you feel that it is a part of God's own message.
5. When you come home from church — do not forget the service in which you have been engaging. Converse about it, if you have an opportunity. Get out your Bible, and find the text; and then talk over any part of the sermon which you can remember. This is the way to refresh your memory, and to lay up a store of spiritual knowledge.
6. When Holy Communion is administered — do not fail to receive it. Be thankful when your Communion Sundays come around, and rejoice in the opportunity of feeding on the body and blood of Christ.
Some aged people 'take the Sacrament,' as they call it, as a mere matter of form. They come to the Lord's Table because there is something respectable in doing so, or because their minister expects to see them there. But if they only come for this reason, it is to them but a poor, cold, dry, unmeaning service; and, instead of pleasing God, they only offend Him!
But I trust that you, my dear friend, are not one of these formal communicants. I trust that you come to this blessed ordinance under a deep feeling of your own sinfulness and unworthiness, and desire to draw near to Christ with humble and living faith. You come, not because you are worthy to come — but because you feel your need of strength and grace. You come to Jesus to be pardoned and healed, and to receive fresh life from Him.
I have said that David, and Simeon, and Eli, and Anna — all loved God's House. But you have reason to love it even more than they did. For they lived only in old Jewish days. The light was but very dim then. But now it shines brightly and clearly upon us. Christ has come; and He has plainly set before us as 'the way, the truth, and the life.'
Then love the House of God. Go there as often as the bells of the sanctuary call you. And remember your Savior's gracious promise; 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name — there am I in the midst of them.'
May your Sabbaths be more and more happy, as you draw nearer to that endless Sabbath which you hope to spend above! May your love for God's House, for God's Word, and God's people — be ever increasing, until you are called away to join the 'one family in heaven,' and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God!
Your earthly Sabbaths, Lord, I love,
But there's a nobler rest above.
Oh, that I might that rest attain,
From sin, from sorrow, and from pain!
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