At the Top of Your Game
All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.Psalm 90:9,10
It took Ray Bourque 22 years to win a Stanley Cup. It took John Elway fifteen seasons to win one, and, for good measure, he won another the next year. Both retired after their championship seasons.
Most star athletes would prefer to go out on top. If they can’t win the championship, perhaps at least they can at least still be at the top of their game. But how many times do we see someone who sticks around just a little too long? At some point, it just seems sad. They can’t compete anymore.
We’d like to go out on top. If only we could live our seventy or eighty years at full strength. If only we didn’t physically peak in our mid-twenties. If only our minds would stay sharp. If only our bodies wouldn’t give out.
Moses reminds us that’s not how it works. “We finish our years with a moan.” Maybe it just seems sad.
The frailty of our lives reminds us that need someone else’s strength. A strength that will endure. In verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 90, Moses writes,
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
God is always at the top of his game. He is always at his mental and “physical” peak. He is always almighty and all-knowing.
And, at the same time his power and knowledge and wisdom are all-encompassing and everlasting, he is also our dwelling place. In him we find the place to rest our withering bodies, our weary minds, and our worn-out souls.
When you get up out of your chair in a few minutes, and your muscles ache and your joints creak, remember that you may not be at the top of your game anymore. But in God, you have place to retire.