There's No Age Limit

In God's eyes, you are just as valuable at 95 as you are at 23."

THE ISRAELITES PICKED 12 men to spy out the Promised Land. I’m not sure how smart this was. Though Moses approved of it, it seems to me that the promise given the Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob was enough to assure they’d inherit what God said they would inherit. Not like their motive wasn’t suspect at this point, too. But, in any case, they picked out these twelve, which included a man named Joshua and another named Caleb, and sent them in to see how good the land was (God had said it was good) and how powerful the people were (God had said they’d defeat them).

Both Joshua and Caleb kept God’s promise in sight. Yes, the land was abundant, and hey, look at these grapes! And yes, the people were tall but with God they were well-able to take the land. Easy-peasy, piece-of-cake. The other ten spies saw doom and gloom and agony. Instead of remembering the miracles of Egypt (Didn’t they just cross the Red Sea on dry land? Wasn’t Pharaoh’s troops drowned in its waters?), they gave into fear and did what people who are afraid do … tried to convince everyone else you ought to also be afraid.

It's bigger than that because they succeeded, causing the people to fall into terror, and then in their mouthing-off, spoke against God as well.

“And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.” (Numbers 14:2-4 KJV)

Wait. What? How did Egypt become salvation, the land that they had cried out to be freed of? And how did the God who’d destroyed the gods of Egypt through mighty signs and wonders become the problem they faced instead of the solution? He’d made the promise to Abraham, and He was forever faithful to keep His Word. From a man unable to father a child had come their millions of Israelites. From their midst had come Moses, who should not have lived past birth.

Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb, rent their clothes and wept at the people’s doubt, and God made them a promise, to keep His Word to their children. Because they feared their children would be a prey to the people of Canaan, only their children would enter the land of promise, and until then, every one of them who’d cried out against God would die, 40 years in the wilderness, one for every day they’d spied out the land. No one over twenty-years-old would see God’s Promised Land.

Much could be said here about trust in God, about His goodness to men, and about His faithfulness. Much could be said about His power to save them. But what I want you to see is their shortened lifespan. Twenty plus forty is sixty. The youngest would not live past age sixty. It is not that God cursed them to die young but that they chose not to believe in His promise, and man without God, living for his own selfish ambitions, will not see the goodness of God that He desires to give.

Forgiveness was still an option, as well. Don’t you think if they’d repented and offered sacrifices as they knew to do, God would have accepted it? He forgave Abraham for saying Sarah was his sister and not his wife. Twice. He wrestled with Jacob literally and blessed him anyway. Moses had initially refused to return to Egypt because he didn’t think he could talk very well. So God gave him his brother, Aaron, to speak for him. But not only didn’t the people of Israel ask to be forgiven, they continued to rebel, to worship false gods, and so they suffered as a result. Their God was merciful to Hagar and blessed Ishmael for Abraham’s sake, although he was the son of the flesh and not the son of promise. He’d forgiven Joseph’s brothers for their betrayal of him and blessed them in Egypt. God was willing to forgive. They chose their selfish emotions.

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” (Psalms 119:9)

Sixty years of age was too young to die. It was not God’s best but the result of their rebellion. Despite this, we are told their shoes never wore out and they never lacked clothing. We are told that manna from heaven continued to form on the ground until their children reaped the produce of Canaan. God provided them water from the rock, miraculously, more than once. But the day came when only Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb were left of that generation.

Caleb was eighty-five when Joshua led them into the Promised Land and just as determined to have the land he’d spied out as when he was forty. Are you hearing me? An eighty-five-year-old man was ready to go to war and did go to war against the same giants the people had feared years before. He wasn’t finished receiving God’s promise and refused to let go until he had it all in his grasp.

“And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.” (Joshua 14:10-11 KJV)

There is no age limit on God’s blessing. There is no point where you are required to sit down and give up. God will heal you at ninety as well as He heals someone at forty. He will give you a new home, additional finances, and an abundance of family. We have a new and better covenant than Caleb had. Take that to the bank, as they say. He decided to stand on God’s covenant promise. We have all that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of kings, has provided.

You can go into the end of your life as fat and green, to quote the psalm, as you’d like to be. As quick on your feet, as prosperous, as close to God as anyone at any other age. Don’t put a limit on it. Moses was 120 when he died, and it says his natural forces were not abated, and he had his full vision. The only number that’s too old is the one you put on it, because in God’s eyes, you are just as valuable at 95 as you are at 23. Ask Marilyn Hickey. She still goes overseas to minister healing in Muslim countries.

Be like Caleb. Go out swinging. Be an example to the younger generation of fortitude and endurance. Then when you’re ready, call for Jesus and go home. We’ll celebrate you.

Psalm 92:14
(AMPC) [Growing in grace] they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap [of spiritual vitality] and [rich in the] verdure [of trust, love, and contentment].
(BBE) They will give fruit even when they are old; they will be fertile and full of growth;
(JUB) They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be vigorous and flourishing
(JPS) They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and richness;
(NIRV) When they get old, they will still bear fruit. Like young trees they will stay fresh and strong.
(NLV) They will still give fruit when they are old. They will be full of life and strength.
(OJB) They shall still bear forth fruit in old age; they shall be (stalwart, vigorous) and (luxuriant, fresh);
(TPT) For in your presence they will still overflow and be anointed. Even in their old age they will stay fresh, bearing luscious fruit and abiding faithfully.

Speech Balloon Image by DreamDigitalArtist from Pixabay
Birthday Cake Image from ClipSafari


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com