Yesterday as I worked in a neighborhood in which I have worked on other occasions, two young boys came home from school and approached me. I have met them before. Actually, one came home from school and the other is home schooled. They are nine years old and in the fourth grade.
My work intrigues people, especially young people. My equipment is impressive. I have chainsaws and pole saws and power pole saws and ropes and shears and trimmers and a big truck. Probably the most impressive piece of equipment is the brush chipper. I have used this machine for over a decade and every time that I use it I still feel awed by it.
Young boys are full of energy and questions. As I reached into my boots to pull up my socks I was asked, “Do you keep money in there?”
“No, I answered, “there is no money in my boots, but they do cost a lot of money.”
“How much do they cost?” he asked.
To this the other boy responded, “You don’t ask the elderly that kind of question, how much their clothes cost!”
“He’s not elderly!” the first boy retorted.
“Yes, he is!”
“No, he’s not!”
“Yes, he is! He’s probably 53!”
For the rest of the day and on the way home and even now as I think of it, I cannot help but to laugh. I’ve been laughing for hours.
I said, “You’re close.”
“How old are you?”
“51.”
“51!”
“51?!”
“See!”
I am not certain, but I think that what was meant is that one should show respect for one’s elders. But, to nine year old boys, 51 is elderly.
Who can argue? The AARP has begun pestering me to join their corruption. And for my line of work, I am way beyond the age of those who climb and trim trees. My body certainly agrees with the boys.
And so I have a joyous time of laughter at one boy’s innocent questioning and the other boy’s desire to be respectful.
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(Leviticus 19:32) Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord.
(Proverbs 16:31) The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.
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3 comments:
"I was young, and now I am old; yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." Our perspectives change with age, but the LORD God faithfulness never changes. Thanks be to the Triune God.
Gary Cepek
Gary, thanks for the reference to Psalm 37:25. Luther has some interesting and helpful comments on this verse, regarding what at first sounds contradictory, but really fits with God's Fatherly will.
I also think that the first verse of Psalm 23 fits with this understanding of the psalmist never seeing the seed of the righteous begging bread. Each of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob fled to Egypt for bread. Lazarus begged for scraps. Even Jesus begged on the cross for something for His thirst. Yet in their bodily needs their spirit was satisfied, and so they had no want that turned them from their heavenly bread.
Three verses later David also writes:
For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
Judgment or Mishpat, the LORD loves for the sake of His saints. Here is the answer to never begging bread, as the bread of heaven was offered up in judgment for us so that we would receive bread and drink in His holy Sacrament to sustain us throughout our journeys in this vale of tears, as the Lord Jesus explains in John 6.
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