“For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you. I have become a sign to many; you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone” (Psalm 71:5-9, NIV).

I have always found Psalm 71 extremely poignant. It is a cry from the heart of a man who was close to God all the way from his youth into his later years. He had accomplished great deeds and was even, in his day, considered a hero and role model by his peers. It is also the portrait of a man who, in the autumn of his life, now fears being forgotten.

This heart-deep cry is all the more overwhelming because it is the echo of a silent epidemic today, that millions of men and women of a good age feel like they have been put aside by a performance-based society that is disproportionately and cruelly focused on youth.

In modern parlance, the Psalmist would be concerned about the fact that his son only calls him once a year at Christmas, that his grandchildren are always too busy to come and visit him. He would fear losing his intellectual faculties, his memory or his autonomy.

Of course, government advertising campaigns make us aware of the afflictions of loneliness, neglect and sometimes even abuse that many seniors experience. Nevertheless, I believe that, as children of God, raising awareness is the least we can do. We are called to protect our seniors and to be a refuge for them. They are the ones who built the society in which we live as well as the churches in which we come together to live out our faith.

I encourage and challenge you to show respect, care and love for the elderly around you. I urge you to protect them from the loneliness and isolation and to honor them as God calls us to do.

God is about to do something new and glorious. This new thing is beyond revival, beyond an awakening. It is a work of God that he alone initiates when he can no longer endure the polluting of his holy name. He says, “I acted for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out” (Ezekiel 20:14, NKJV).

There comes a time when God determines that his Word has been so trampled into the mire and abominations have so defiled what is called “the church” that he must rise up and defend his name before a lost world.

You can read it all in Ezekiel 36:21–38. God makes awe-inspiring statements about what he will do, most importantly to bring back the honor to his name. “’I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,’ says the Lord God, ‘when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols’” (Ezekiel 36:23-25).

For his own name’s sake, God is going to do two mighty works. First, he is going to purge the nations and his church with awesome redemptive judgments. He is going to stop the invasion of his house by homosexuals and charlatans, and he is going to purify and cleanse the ministry and raise up shepherds after his own heart.

Second, God is going to glorify his holy name with a great intervention of mercy. In the throes of judgments being fulfilled, God is going to save the day by a supernatural “turning” of a remnant back to himself. What he did for Israel when they were being judged, he will do again in the days ahead.

Let us seek our Lord fervently in the prayer closet and look forward to the great and glorious redemptive work he is going to do for his name’s sake.

When you hurt the worst, go to your secret closet and weep out all your despair! Jesus wept. Peter wept bitterly; he carried with him the hurt of denying the very Son of God. Those bitter tears worked in him a sweet miracle, and he came back to shake the kingdom of Satan.

Jesus never looks away from a crying heart. He said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17, NKJV). Not once will the Lord say, “Get hold of yourself! Stand up and take your medicine. Grit your teeth.” No, Jesus stores every tear in his eternal container.

Do you hurt? Badly? Go ahead and cry! Keep on crying until the tears stop flowing, but let those tears originate only from hurt and not from unbelief or self-pity.

Life goes on. You would be surprised how much you can bear with God helping you. Tears and emptiness may swallow you up at times, but God is still on his throne. You can’t help yourself. You can’t stop the pain and hurt. Our blessed Lord will come to you, and he will place his loving hand under you and lift you up to sit again in heavenly places. He will reveal his endless love for you.

Encourage yourself in the Lord. When the fog surrounds you and you can’t see any way out of your dilemma, lie back in the arms of Jesus and simply trust him. He wants your faith and confidence. He wants you to cry aloud, “Jesus loves me! He is with me. He will not fail me. He is working it all out right now. I will not be cast down. I will not be defeated. I will not be a victim of Satan. I love God, and he loves me!”

As Paul told the church in his letters. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32).

Happiness is not living without pain or hurt. True happiness is learning how to live one day at a time, despite all the sorrow and pain.

Christ warned his disciples, “He said to them, ‘Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him’” (Mark 4:24–25, NKJV).

Jesus knew these words might sound strange to non-spiritual ears, so he preceded his message by saying, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear”(Mark 4:23). Jesus was telling us, “If your heart is open to God’s Spirit, you’ll understand.”

What exactly is Jesus saying in this passage? He’s speaking of how the Lord measures out his glorious presence in various amounts, whether to churches or to individuals. Some don’t receive any of his glory. Others receive an ever-increasing measure, emanating from their lives and churches.

God has promised to pour out his Spirit on his people in these last days. Indeed, all of scripture points to a triumphant, glory-filled church at the close of time. Jesus himself said the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. We won’t be limping into heaven. No. Our Lord is going to bring greater power to his church. This power won’t be manifested merely in signs and wonders. It will be revealed in his people and in the glorious transformation of hearts touched by God’s Spirit.

How can we obtain an ever-increasing measure of Christ’s glory? The Lord told us very clearly in Mark 4:24. Jesus was saying, “According to the portion of yourself you allot to me, I’ll give back to you in like portion. I’ll deal with you in the manner you deal with me.”

If you measure out to God sloth and laziness, taking for granted his great work, you’ll be dealt a spirit of slumber. “Laziness casts one into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger” (Proverbs 19:15). As a result, your soul will go hungry.

God’s love, mercy and grace toward us are boundless. The issue here isn’t obtaining his love, mercy or grace; but having the blessing of his glory in our lives.

Jesus states plainly that he measures out different amounts of his glory to us, according to how we measure out our hearts to him. Our part is simply to move ever closer to him in our worship, obedience and diligence.

In one way or another, we are all hurting. Every person on earth carries his own burden of pain. When you are deeply hurt, no person on earth can shut down the inner fears and deepest agonies. Not the best of friends can understand the battle you are going through or the wounds inflicted on you.

This is what the Psalmist was wrestling with in Psalm 6:6-7, “I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies.”

Is there a balm for a broken heart? Is there healing for those deep, inner hurts? Can the pieces be put back together and the heart be made even stronger?

Yes! Absolutely yes. If not, then God’s Word would be a hoax, and God himself would be a liar. God didn’t promise you a painless way of life. He promised you “a way of escape.” He promised to help you bear your pain, strength to put you back on your feet when weakness makes you stagger.

Our loving Father said, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV).

Your heavenly Father watches over you with an unwavering eye. Every move is monitored. Every tear is bottled. He identifies with your every pain. He feels every hurt. He will never allow you to drown in your tears. He will not permit your hurt to deteriorate your mind. He promises to come, right on time, to wipe away your tears and give you joy for mourning.

Paul encouraged the church, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

You have the ability to make your heart rejoice and be glad in the Lord. God’s eye is on you, and he commands us to rise up and shake off all those fears causing doubt.