One of my favorite places when I was growing up was Interstate Park along the St. Croix River between St. Croix Falls, Wi. and Taylor Falls, Mn.  It’s been a long time since I crawled on those rocky cliffs above the river.  It’s also been since our children were growing up that I have walked among the Elephant Rocks in Mo.

In Psalm 71:3 (part of the psalm 71:1-11 for last Sunday) the writer asks God to be “a rock on which I may live, a place where I may always go.”

In vs. 9 in words that speak to me now that I no longer go crawling around and over huge boulders.  “Don’t throw me aside when I am old, don’t desert me when my strength is gone.”  He reminds God, that “you have taught me ever since I was young.” He notes that he, “depended on you before I was born.  You took me from my mother’s womb.”  He has become an example to many people.  So, he reminds God, “don’t leave me when I am old, and my hair turns grey.”

Sometimes as we age, we wonder how we can be of service others.  Does God have any use for me?  Indeed, our society and the church struggle to know what to do with older adults.  I think at least one answer is in the psalmist’s prayer in verse 18, “Let me live to tell the people of this age what your strength has accomplished, to tell about your power to all who will come.”

God is still a rock on which to live and we don’t have to climb up to him, but in Christ lifts us up to himself.