“So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”1
We are never too old to serve the Lord. Caleb, forty-five years earlier, was one of the twelve spies Moses sent to spy out the Promised Land and one of the two who came back with a glowing report. At age eighty-five he still wants to serve the Lord.
Admittedly, folks lived much older back then but no matter how old we are (except for extenuating circumstances), we are never too old to serve the Lord—even if all we can do is pray.
According to Today in the Word, “Cervantes completed Don Quixote when he was nearing 70. Clara Barton, at 59, founded the American Red Cross. Goethe finished the dramatic poem ‘Faust’ at 82. Verdi composed ‘Othello’ at 73, ‘Falstaff’ in his late seventies. Benjamin Disraeli became Prime Minister of England for the second time at 70.”
When it comes to achieving anything worthwhile (especially serving God), it is availability—not age-ability—that counts.
Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I’m available, please make me usable and use me every day in some way to be a part of what you are doing in the world today. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”
1. Caleb (Joshua 14:10-12, NIV).
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