I’m afraid of growing old and dying
Question:
I'm going through a time right now of fear and turmoil. Fear of growing older and dying. It's a paralyzing fear that I can't seem to shake. I know it has to be a lack of faith. I don't want to fear. I want to trust in what God has promised me. I also know that the kind of fear that I'm letting take hold of me is condemned in the Bible. I pray for God's forgiveness, and I also ask for your prayers. Can you give me any words of encouragement?
Answer:
Fears generally come from not knowing what to expect. The first day at school or the first day on a new job is often difficult because you don't know exactly what to expect or what is expected of you. You haven't been old before and certainly don't know what the next life will be like, so it is expected that there would be some nervousness about these things. See: Overcoming Fears.
However, to live in this world means we will die. "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). And the longer we avoid death, the older we will become. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day" (II Corinthians 4:16). And therein Paul hints at the solution.
This life isn't the end, it is a short waypoint on the journey to eternal life. Remember the old song, "This world is not my home I'm just a passing through ..."? "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13).
When we reach heaven's shores, it won't be in the mortal bodies we currently reside in. "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven" (II Corinthians 5:1-2). Our new bodies won't decay and we won't die.
So don't focus on where you are. "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable" (I Corinthians 15:19). God promised His children a better life to come, and God always keeps His promises.
