“ Until you grow old. I am the one, and until you turn gray I will support you. I have
done it, and I will continue to bear it; I will support and I will rescue” (Isaiah 46:4, GNT).
The yearbooks are out. It’s that time of year when we discover who is the most likely to be eaten by a T-Rex or who has the greatest odds of finding Jimmy Hoffa. (At my ten-year reunion, I was voted least likely to do what I do professionally.)
Recently, Peter Little from the University of Manchester discovered a marble slab that had been sitting in a museum. An ancient Greek inscription led researchers to conclude the stone fragment was, in fact, a yearbook from Antiquity. The writing revealed a list of thirty-one young men who had graduated from a military training class in Athens.
Sadly, no other mention of the classmates was revealed. No one wrote, “Good luck in your future.” “Stay in touch.” Or “No more homework. No more books. No more teacher’s dirty looks.”
Many people look back on their school years with fond memories. Many don’t. Some do both. Reminiscences can resemble Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…
it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Eating lunch alone, while admitted to the Honor Society. Missing out on the drill team, while being named president of student council. Being spurred by a girlfriend, while making the winning shot against a school rival.
We learned early on that life is filled with ups and downs. Yet looking back on these experiences, we now can see God’s hand supporting us through the difficult moments and giving us a high five when the victory bell rang. Hindsight, as they say, is twenty-twenty.
Our present circumstances haven’t changed in this respect. Life still is filled with peaks and valleys. Yet Isaiah assures us that God’s promise of support will continue at every level well into the future.