The Goodness of God on my 60th Birthday

02-18-25

Feb 18, 2025

The Lord upholds all who are falling

and raises up all who are bowed down (Psalm 145:14).

Today is my birthday. According to the calendar, I am 60 years old. According to the Bible I am entering the final third of my life (1 Timothy 5; Leviticus 27); that's probably not a bad estimation. However, God still uses women over 60 for his glory: Sarah, Naomi, Elizabeth, Anna, Lois, and maybe Deborah, along with countless unnamed others. Every great man in the Scripture had a mother, after all.

I may be 60 chronologically, but I'm healthier (for the most part) than many people a decade younger. I think younger than some people I know in their 40s, and I feel (and look) younger than the "old people" I thought being 60 required. So, I'll admit to being born in 1965, but I don't intend to "act my age" any time soon.

I thought it might be fun to see what the number 60 means in the Bible. I'm not diving into numerology or turning Scripture into something it's not intended to be, but, just for fun, here's what I learned:

At 60, men could redeem themselves from service for the bargain rate of 15 shekels. For women, only 10 (Lev 27).
Isaac was 60 when Esau and Jacob were born (Gen 25; no one knows Rebekah's age).
King Solomon surrounded himself with 60 mighty men (Song of Solomon 3).
Nebuchadnezzar's statue stood 60 cubits high (Daniel 3).
The dedication of the Tabernacle Altar included sacrifices of 60 rams, goats, and lambs (Num 7).
Solomon's Temple was 60 cubits long (1 Kings 6).
Sarah's name and variants thereof are written 60 times in the KJV. She is the most mentioned woman in the Bible.

Some Hebrew mystics attach numbers to letters of the Hebrew alphabet and use the numbers to interpret signs and wonders. Sixty is connected to the 15th letter of the alphabet, Samech (ס). I read and listened to a half-dozen commentaries on the word/number and came away with a few insights that I may or may not adopt into my philosophical perspective on turning 60.

Samech is one of two closed letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
- This closed loop symbolizes the unending Light of God and His infinite nature.
- The closed circle also resembles a wedding ring, the symbol of permanent commitment and the presence of God in marriage
- The circular form also represents support, as in arms holding up another person who has fallen

Samech also refers to the salvation of God; that He will dwell in the circle of His people
Samech is also the letter for Sukkah, and Sukkot, the feast of Tabernacles. Interestingly, Sukkot is the only remaining festival mandated by the Torah that does not yet have a Messianic connection. Could the dwelling of God within the circle of his people be fully present in the return of Jesus the Messiah during Sukkot someday? (Label this "curious things that don't need to be dwelt upon or obsessed over.")

A better use of time on this day completing my 60th trip around the sun might be to consider one of the acrostic psalms. Psalm 145 is one of David's hymns to the greatness of God, and it serves as a beautiful meditation for today. The 14th verse opens with סָמַךְ (samak), which means to be supported by something, in this case, the LORD, who sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bent down. In other words, God puts His arms around those of us bent over in pain, shame, remorse, oppression, and loss, holding us up when we are too weak to stand.

There will come a time in my life that my body will begin to fail (not anytime soon, Lord willing). But there never needs to be a time when my faith begins to fail. In that, I am confident that the Lord will hold me up, sustaining and supporting me as He has always done. The goodness of God reveals itself in daily reminders that God is my strength and shield. His goodness is unsearchable, yet in HIs grace, He lavishes it on me, day after day.

That's worth celebrating.

Defaulting to Grace

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