The Glory in Getting Older

As a child, I sang, and did not understand, “Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king.” I didn’t know what “hark” meant, I didn’t know who the newborn king was, and I didn’t understand what angels were doing singing about glory in the sky at night. But I sang the Christmas carol with gusto anyway.

Christmas for me now is quite different from the Christmas of my childhood. Now I know what “hark” means. I have read in the Bible about the newborn king and about angels. Luke writes that the night Jesus was born the angels proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest and peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14, NRSV). I love it when God proclaims his glory with peace and favor in my own life.

But I am learning that there is much more to God’s glory than angels in the night sky. The author of Proverbs writes, “It is the glory of God to conceal things” (Proverbs 25:2, NRSV). I certainly did not think of glory in those terms when I first heard the well-known Christmas carol. And truth be told, it seems to contradict much of what I have come to believe since then. Now I am asking, Why in the world would God conceal his glory? I thought God’s plan was to reveal more and more of his glory.

Now I am asking, Why in the world would God conceal his glory?

I am learning that deep wisdom often includes contradictory truths. God’s glory can be revealed as well as concealed, and sometimes God chooses to conceal his glory. As I dig deeper into this reality, Proverbs 25:2 has become a great comfort to me, particularly in light of aging.

In the Cleft of the Rock

Moses prayed to God, “Show me your glory” (Exodus 33:17, NRSV). The word glory, according to my Bible dictionary, “denotes the revelation of God’s being, nature and presence.” Many of us long to see more of God’s presence in our experiences of getting older. We want to know how to find God’s glory in not having a job description. We wish we could see his glory in the diminishment of our bodies. And where is the glory in the increasing limitations of what we can offer our families, our friends, and our troubled world?

We may find ourselves telling God that if he would just show us his glory (and answer our questions) then we could do a much better job of getting older. We long to experience what God promised Moses when God said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you” (Exod 33:19, NRSV). But God did not do exactly what Moses expected. Instead, God told Moses to wait in a cleft of the rock, while God’s glory passed by. God said, “You shall see my back; but my face [or “gracious presence”] shall not be seen” (Exod 33:22-23, NRSV). In other words, there will be times when we do not see God in the cleft of the rock of our senior years, but God has not left us.

In other words, there will be times when we do not see God in the cleft of the rock of our senior years, but God has not left us.

Letting Go of Our Need to Know

As we age, we may be surprised that God’s propensity to conceal things invites us to a new, deeper place on our spiritual journey. When God chooses to conceal God’s glory, we are invited to trust God and not rely on our own insights (Prov 3:5, NRSV). Or, to put it more bluntly, “Don’t assume that you know it all” (Prov 3:7, MSG).

In my younger years, when I memorized Proverbs 3:5, I quickly agreed with God that I should trust with all my heart. And then I proceeded to trust myself. I taught myself to think ahead, organize each day, and do my best to take care of myself and those I love. I worked hard to plan my life, to figure out what I believed and what God expected of me. I wanted to be certain I had it right.

Now I am in a different place, not only in years but also in my relationship with God. As I have lived with life’s changes, disappointments, and, yes, even God’s glory, I am on the brink of admitting that my own plans do not usually fulfill my need to personally know God and experience God’s love and presence in my life.

Author Peter Enns writes that there is a difference between belief and trust. He says that “trust in God, not correct thinking about God, is the beginning and end of faith.” My expectations for myself, my plans for my life, and even my deeply held convictions cannot replace deep trust as I journey on with God. But I sometimes fear that I am disappointing God when I don’t meet my own familiar expectations. As my body continues to diminish, it is difficult to trust God in new ways. I hear similar versions of this spiritual phenomenon from my older friends. I think this is because God is inviting us to move from belief to trust.

Learning to Trust God More Deeply

Trust can mean many things. To trust God includes trusting God’s work in me. Paul says this is more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21, NRSV). If I can’t even imagine God’s work within me, then it is a waste of time to try to figure things out on my own.

To trust is to rest like a baby in her mother’s arms (Psalm 131:2). A baby is not worrying about all the things he can’t do.

To trust is to lean into Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God!” The good news is that God is God and I am not. God’s concealed glory reminds me of how true this is.

To trust is to let go of my attempts to control. As I get older, I find myself working hard to control my circumstances, my energy, as well as the opportunities available to me. I need help letting go, so I often go back to what Jesus said to his disciples about how to trust God.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers, “What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving” (Matthew 6:31, MSG). He reminds them, “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions” (6:33, MSG). His conclusion is to not “get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” (6:34, MSG).

I will never grow out of my need to hear these words. Jesus reminds me to focus on what God is giving me more than on all that I want to get from him, to see my life as God sees it, and to learn not to worry about the future. God is leading me to trust more deeply in all of these ways, one step at a time.

Jesus reminds me to focus on what God is giving me more than on all that I want to get from him, to see my life as God sees it, and to learn not to worry about the future.

The Example of Mary

One of my role models is a young teenage girl. (Back to the Christmas story!) Mary, the young mother-to-be of Jesus, didn’t understand what was happening in her life either. When Gabriel greets her with the news that she would be pregnant with God’s son, she asks, “How can these things be?” (Luke 1:34, NRSV). Gabriel’s response seems like an example of concealed glory. He doesn’t explain how these things could happen. But Mary is able to respond, “Here am I, the servant to the Lord: let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38, NRSV).

Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20, NRSV). As we age, we are giving birth to Christ in new ways. May God help us to trust more deeply as we face our own daily mysteries. Hopefully, we can respond, “Let it be done according to your word.” This is the invitation of concealed glory of our senior years.