Yes, I mean it. We have discovered the fountain of youth. This brief post is for meditation on the five “benefits” of God that renew your youth like the eagle’s.
1. He forgives all your iniquities. There is little in life that is more of a burden than the guilt of sin. What God provides, through the blood of Jesus Christ, is a full “pardon” for sin. Moses first used this term in Ex. 34:9, after the “golden calf” incident. He pled with the LORD: “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” We are offered forgiveness and continual cleansing for sin: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us out sins, and to (continually) cleans us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9). If you keep hauling it around you will get old a whole lot faster.
2. He heals all your diseases. Physical diseases? Yes. There will be complete healing when we are in His presence: no more pain, no more sorrow. But what about now? David suffered physically because of his guilt. Sin will eat away at our soul, producing what we call mental or emotional illness but what are ultimately spiritual illnesses. As the Lord told Paul concerning his thorn in the flesh, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).
3. He redeems your life from destruction. We are born in sin, meaning that from birth we are on the broad road that leads to destruction. When we come by faith to trust in our Savior, He begins the work of redemption to salvage our life from the damage already done. His work is sometimes painful because the old house built on sand must be torn down and replaced with the one built on the Rock. But He promises to continue that work until we have entered into His glorious presence (Rom. 8:18-25; Phil. 1:6).
4. He crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. As a good Father, He provides all the good things we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4) and every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:4-5). And like a good mother, when we are in a pitiable situation, He comes with His tender mercies and compassion. The pilgrimage is difficult, but the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly (Ps. 84:11).
5. He satisfies your mouth with good things. What a joy to know. Christ, who has come to dwell within us is the Bread of life, the Bread that came down from heaven, the bread that gives life to the world, that satisfies so that you will never hunger (Jn. 6:30-51). He is the living water by which you will never thirst. Even more, you will have within a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (Jn. 4:13-14).
Yes, there is a fountain of youth. It is the Lord God, the fountain of living waters. Be warned and encouraged to drink daily from this fountain and from no other. Remember the words of the LORD through Jeremiah: For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jer. 2:17).
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