Series: Flowers in the Desert
Isaiah 46:4 ESV
In today’s culture age is a complex concept to understand.
It isn’t complex because we don’t know about the stages of life. Sociologists and Psychologists have studied and re-studied every stage at length.
We know on paper what the stages are supposed to look like.
We know the studies.
We know that the young ones who are discovering what everything means can think faster.
We know that as we age and our brain slows, we don’t answer questions as quickly.
We know in general many cultures today revere young bright minds. Culture loves a quick wit and a sharp clear memory bank.
But, and here’s the kicker…do we really know everything about the brain and how it works in every stage of life?
Have we considered how the memory bank in the brain grows as it experiences and remembers, experiences and remembers, experience and remembers.
So, while the young discover and remember the discovery, that is just the beginning of experiencing and remembering.
In many cases, an older person who has many decades of experiencing and remembering (taking into account their brain is not in a downward spiral) has vastly more capability of solving a difficult problem than a young person.
For those of us who were young and anxious to learn when we went off to university, who thought we were really terribly smart because we did well on our SAT or ACT we were unbelievably shocked and dismayed to discover we knew absolutely nothing after we went to a class or two.
All too quickly we discovered that we know practically nothing.
Looking back, I personally chuckle remembering the professor who woke up every morning and memorized the front page of the Wall Street Journal. He did that every day.
In his classroom we knew we probably might remember the a few articles we read that morning and we might remember ten things that were written.
Or, in graduate school, when I sat under a seasoned professor for the final course in the Biblical Hebrew language. Up until that point everything about Hebrew was a blur. I might have passed the tests with an acceptable score but I was still clueless about Hebrew.
Then…day after day, the “ole’” professor molded and shaped my mind and made everything I had learned make sense.
Suddenly, the ancient Hebrew language was beautiful and alive.
Reading Hebrew from scripture became an honor and a privilege.
An ole’ great professor connected the dots for me. He was more than old enough to be retired, but he chose to teach so we could learn.
I’m so very grateful I had the opportunity to sit in his classroom.
And so when the Prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 46:4,
“Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you.I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.”
The Hebrew says,
וְעַד־זִקְנָה֙ אֲנִ֣י ה֔וּא וְעַד־שֵיבָ֖ה אֲנִ֣י אֶסְבֹּ֑ל אֲנִ֤י עָשִׂ֙יתִי֙ וַאֲנִ֣י אֶשָּׂ֔א וַאֲנִ֥י אֶסְבֹּ֖ל וַאֲמַלֵּֽט׃ ס
I post that in honor of my ole’ Hebrew professor.
Even though that was many years ago now I still remember that first epiphany moment when I actually made a holy connection with the Hebrew text.
Since then (even though I don’t study Hebrew every day) I still do study and with the help of a very wise and gifted Seminary professor I still have a desire to learn more Hebrew.
I AM ever so grateful for the gift!
Spiritual Practice: Gratitude
Thank God for one older person who taught you, or loved you, or just changed your life!
In God, Deborah
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