Are you satisfied?  That question is life and death.  I’m not asking you if life is being fair to you.  This goes far deeper than that.  I am unapologetically trying to ignite a special fire in your soul.   It’s way more important than cholesterol, blood sugar, or joints.

This all started when I reread Psalm 91:14-16: “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”

One phrase jumped up and slapped me: “with long life I will satisfy him.”  This is a precious promise of living out your days until those days have satisfied you soul—satisfied you that you accomplished your purpose on this planet—and you are ready to go.

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rage at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” That opening stanza is from Dylan Thomas’s poem for his father. His father had been a robust, militant man most of his life, and when in his eighties, he became blind and weak, his son was disturbed seeing his father become “soft” or “gentle.” In this poem, Thomas is rousing his father to continue being the fierce man he had previously been.  I’m rousing you.

Have you turned soft and gentle, slowly surrendering to your decline?  Have you muffled dreams, purposes, and goals because your spirit is tired?

Maybe it is time for you to fold up your walker and use it to fight off your children for trying to put you in a home.  You already have a home.  You need to shake the gravitational force of your feelings, symptoms, and the stupidity of our culture.  Now I want to talk to you about unfinished business.

Unfinished business: You have unfinished business for your children, your grandchildren, and more.  You can’t leave yet.    King David experienced unfinished business.

He grew old and cold.  Literally, he couldn’t keep warm.  He was bed-ridden by his own spirit.  I know this because of how he reacted when they brought him the latest news.

“1 Kings 1:18 “So now, look! Adonijah has become king; and now, my lord the king, you do not know about it.”  Adonijah—the personification of abuse of wealth and power. Adonijah—a personality is so shallow and annoying that the idea of a king Adonijah horrified David.  It also woke him up.

Solomon is supposed to be king!  A generation is at stake!  The energy David couldn’t find is back.  He is out of the bed and into a chariot with his son Solomon.  The rightful king made the people rejoice so loudly it caused an earthquake.  1 Kings 1: 40 And all the people went up after him; and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split with their sound.”

The younger generation could not save themselves. It took David.  Likewise, you need to ignore the hollow boasts of a young culture that lacks wisdom and substance.  Do not think that only young voices with fresh methods will save America.  You have an urgent gift to give before you leave.  Here’s your manifesto:

Psalm 71: 17 “O God, you have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. 18 Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, your power to everyone who is to come.”

Fresh Challenge: They told me the strangest thing.  “We are taking our retirement money and using it to start a new business.”   I could have told them about the long hours, severe competition, and the great risk.  It would have been futile before the fire that burned in their hearts.  They believed the wealth of the wicked was laid up for the just.   They would rather build a legacy than pinch pennies traipsing cross country in a Winnebago.

Joshua was stunned and didn’t know what to say to 80-year-old Caleb:  Joshua 14:10 “And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. 11 As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. 12 Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.”13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance.”

You have a wealth of experience, wisdom and talent.  Find fresh ways to give it away.

Kept alive until you are satisfied.   Now let’s talk about the most powerful force for rejuvenation there is: The pull of prophecy.  Simeon expected God to save Israel.  He lived and breathed the promises that God made to him.  It lengthened his life.  He knew he could not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  The Holy Spirit revealed it to him.

Luke 2: 25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: 29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation 31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, 32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you about your children, grandchildren and our nation?  Is the enemy eating away at prophecies, promises and mandates?  Has a broken heart created a tired spirit and a weakened body?

You are going to pray in every last member of your family.  Wrap yourself back into to those prophetic words. Wait on the Lord and you shall renew your strength and you will mount up with wings as eagles and with a long life and years worth living declare to the heavens “I am satisfied.”