They say that I am growing old; I’ve heard them tell it times untold, In language plain and bold– But I’m not growing old.

This frail shell in which I dwell Is growing old, I know full well– But I am not the shell.

What if my hair is turning [...]]]> Not Growing Old

They say that I am growing old;
I’ve heard them tell it times untold,
In language plain and bold–
But I’m not growing old.

This frail shell in which I dwell
Is growing old, I know full well–
But I am not the shell.

What if my hair is turning gray?
Gray hairs are honorable, they say.
What if my eyesight’s growing dim?
I still can see to follow Him
Who sacrificed His life for me
Upon the cross of Calvary.

What should I care if time’s old plow
Has left its furrows on my brow?
Another house, not made with hand,
Awaits me in the Glory Land.

What though I falter in my walk?
What though my tongue refuse to talk?
I still can tread the narrow way,
I still can watch and praise and pray.

My hearing may not be as keen
As in the past it may have been,
Still, I can hear my Saviour say,
In whispers soft, “This is the way.”

The outward man, do what I can
To lengthen out this life’s short span,
Shall perish, and return to dust,
As everything in nature must.

The inward man, the Scriptures say,
Is growing stronger every day.
Then how can I be growing old
When safe within my Saviour’s fold?

Ere long my soul shall fly away
And leave this tenement of clay;
This robe of flesh I’ll drop, and rise
To seize the “everlasting prize.”
I’ll meet you on the streets of gold,
And prove that I’m not growing old.

–John E. Roberts

http://www.mwtb.org/pages/display.php?id=500140

Jeremiah 33:15-16  In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and [...]]]> Jeremiah 23:6  In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Jeremiah 33:15-16  In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.  (16)  In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. (emphasis mine)

Robert McCheyne wrote a poem about Jehovah-Tsidkenu which means “The LORD Our Righteousness.” I found the poem in J. Vernon McGee’s Through the Bible series on Lamentations.

I oft read with pleasure, to soothe or engage,

Isaiah’s wild measure, or John’s simple page:

But e’en when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree,

Jehovah-Tsidkenu was nothing to me.

Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,

I wept when the waters went over His soul;

Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree

Jehovah-Tsidkenu: ’twas nothing to me.

When free grace awoke me by light from on high,

Then legal fears shook me — I trembled to die.

No refuge, no safety in self could I see,

Jehovah-Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.

My terrors all vanished before that sweet name;

My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came,

To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free;

Jehovah-Tsidkenu is all things to me.