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This thought of the renewal of youth appears again and again in the traditions and legends of mankind. As if shrinking from decay, and having somehow a conviction that man was not intended to be lost, outworn and exhausted in his earthly pilgrimage, he has had his dreams of the renewal of youth. Sometimes the dream took the shape of the legend of the phoenix, living for centuries, and when consumed rising from its ashes; or the eagle mounting up into heaven till he comes near to the seat of central fire in the sun, when scorched by the sun he casts himself into the sea; thence he emerges again with new vigour and fresh plumage, till at his hundredth year he perishes in the sea. In the text there may be an allusion to the yearly moulting of the feathers of the eagle and other birds, the eagle being selected as the liveliest image of strength and activity. And the old alchemists were searching for the elixir that would not only transmute inferior metals into gold, but would restore to man his youth, and so prolong his life, enabling him to resist disease, and set the destructive influences of nature at defiance. It was a beautiful dream. It contains a hint of man's great capacity of life, and his wondrous destiny.

I. GOD IS THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH. He is "from everlasting" — the underived, uncreated, unbeginning Existence; the Ancient of Days. But He is eternally young. His mercies are "new every morning." The resources of Omnipotence have not begun to fail; the energies of the Holy Spirit are not spent. The measurements of time are only a convenience to us, our dates and chronologies are nothing to God. He is clothed with the eternal beauty of youth; and new benefits, too numerous to be counted, are ever bearing witness to the freshness and constancy of His love.

II. WE, THEN, MAY RECEIVE FROM HIM THE GIFT OF PERPETUAL YOUTH. The psalmist, with the boldness of faith, speaks of the Eternal as standing in close relation to himself. Jehovah and the soul are represented as in touch with each other. "Who forgiveth all," etc. It is difficult to satisfy a human soul. Myriads are making the attempt, and failing. But here is satisfaction. The soul at rest, its longings met; no longer wandering in the market-places of the world in search of goodly pearls, it has now found the pearl of great price, it has found the "good." What is this good? Why, it is God Himself, and that is the reason why it is satisfying. "The Lord is my portion."

III. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUTH? Think of two or three. There is energy. A young man without energy is out of his place; he is "born out of due time." If he is not energetic in youth, he had better apply for a position among the lotos-eaters, and "steep his brows in slumber's holy balm." Action is identified with life. Energy, activity is the mark of the renewed nature. The rest to which it attains is not indolence, but the harmony of the powers in the service they render, the absence of all disturbing or thwarting elements, the repose of the soul in God, who is not idle, but ever working out the counsels of His own will. Youth is a time of hopefulness. It is led On and sustained by the visions of hope. Many of them may be, and probably are, only illusions; but even then they are useful. It is God's kind provision that the morning should be bright. And this trait of youth is in the renewed nature. It is begotten again to a "living hope." Many hopes are dead; they grew very weary as the years advanced, and gave up the ghost. The paths of all who forget God are strewn with the withered hopes that were once green and beautiful. But this is a living hope — living because Jesus is living, the hope of life, fulness of life, complete victory over the powers of darkness and death. And we speak of the enthusiasm, fervour, dash, daring of youth. And so there is brightness and fervour in the renewed nature. We say that the heart grows cold with age; no new friendships are formed; the interest in the outside world is lessened; the blood is more sluggish; the pulse more slow; the heart more cold. But the man who is living in the company of Jesus Christ has not a cold heart; it is burning with love to Him, and with zeal for the triumph of His cause.

IV. This NEW LIFE IS BEYOND THE POWER OF THE VISIBLE AND TEMPORAL. Suffering cannot harm it. Indeed, it has manifested its greatest beauty and shone with heavenly splendour in seasons of affliction and trouble. Death cannot harm this life. While the outward man. is decaying, the inward man is renewed day by day, moment by moment. The true life can no more die than God can die; and the change will only be a renewal of youth. Heaven is a land where the people "grow younger," and their glory never fades.

( J. Owen.)

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KJV: Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

WEB: who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.