It was a Saturday morning as I gathered my supplies, draped the cape around my shoulders and mixed the medium brown hair dye solution. I slathered the creamy mess on my hair and then sat down to read my Bible while I waited for the magic to work.

I was in the middle of studying Lysa TerKeurst’s Finding I AM and was instructed to look up Isaiah 46:4.

Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you,
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

God really does have a sense of humor! Even to your old age and gray hairs. Although there are days I feel differently, I’m not old. The math tells me that 45 is middle aged. But I most definitely have gray hairs. Plural. He had my attention!

Apparently God wanted to remind me that morning who will sustain me to my old age as my hair turns grayer. It will be God who will carry me. It will be God who will rescue me.

Twice we are told He will sustain us. It must be important, so what does “sustain” mean?

To bear, bear a load, drag oneself along.

How many times do I try to drag myself along when He promises to bear me, bear my load, sustain me? Why do I think I should do this on my own? What do I have to prove? Is it pride that keeps me from crying out, “Sustain me! Bear me! Bear my load!”

He also says He has made me and will carry me. He doesn’t just say He will carry me. He reminds me that He made me, which means He feels a responsibility to carry me. And not just a responsibility, but a joy to carry me. I can relate. I “made” my kids. And when they were small and dependent on me, I felt a responsibility to carry them, especially when they couldn’t walk or were tired or were crying. But I didn’t just feel a responsibility. I found joy in the carrying. In fact, now that they are teenagers, I sometimes miss those dependent days and the cuddles that accompanied them.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that our Abba, our Father, feels the same way. He enjoys our dependency on Him and the closeness that carrying brings. And thankfully we don’t have to be young to enjoy that closeness. He’s big enough to carry us even when we have gray hairs.

Lastly, He says He will rescue us. What good news! There are times when I get myself into quite a mess, and what a relief to know He is a rescuer! But He’s not just a rescuer of daily mistakes. He’s also a deliverer of monumental proportions. He came into the enemy’s camp, the one ruled by darkness and sin, and brought us into His kingdom of light. We were slaves to the prince of darkness, slaves to our own sin, and He paid the ransom and rescued us.

What a God! I want to join in with the Psalmist and say, “Your way, O God, is holy; what god is great like our God?”