“And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, Jacob! Jacob! And he said, Here am I. And He said, I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will there make of you a great nation.” Gen 46:2-3 (Amplified)
The relationship of change with age is inversely proportional. This means that the older we get the less positive or enthusiastic we are about change. As we get older we become comfortable with the familiar and accepted norms as we become set in our ways. Also, by the time we reach old age, we feel that we have been there and done that and very little will hold our fascination for long. The opposite is usually true of the more inquisitive younger generations who generally tend to embrace and usually represent the vanguard of change. Hence, it was no small matter for old Jacob to move everything and shift base to a foreign country. It will be understandable if Jacob in the circumstances felt that he was simply too old a dog to be learning new tricks.
However, in our walk with God, we need to be prepared for just about anything as our watchword should be trust and obey. This means that even when you feel that you are in the winter of life, God in His power can decide that even that late in our lives, an Indian summer is in order. So, what is an Indian summer? It is a brief unseasonably warm period in the cold season. Nature sometimes plays trick on us by suddenly and sometimes inexplicably foisting on us a brief summery period of a few days at a time that the ambient temperature should characteristically be getting ready to plummet into the cold depths of winter. Our relationship with God could be such that when we think we are done, and as a consequence are winding down, God forcefully intrudes into our ordered idyllic lives with the command to do something that is both out of character and totally unexpected for us. God seems to relish using those who from the human perspective are considered to be way past their prime as they are deemed to be more malleable in his hand as opposed to the youthful pride that often stands in His way with respect to the younger generations.
Why does God do this? It is because His strength is made perfect in our weakness. The glory of youth tends to make us exaggerate our own importance just as the frailty of age usually makes us think that we are past our best years. The good news is that the God of all seasons can decide to modify your season, however slightly, and cause you to enjoy an Indian summer. Ask the heroes of faith Sarah or Elizabeth or Moses and they will tell you from personal experience that nothing is too hard for God to do. So, age is no barrier to what God wants to do in and with your life. It is because God knows that you’ve still got something to offer that He has kept you to alive until now. So, why not ask Him what He would have you do and then spend the rest of your years pleasing the God that you would soon meet face to face. As the saying goes, old soldiers never die. They just fade away. There is no better way to meet your Lord than with your boots tightly laced on and shouting Hallelujah! Even at this late stage in life, God can still use you to accomplish significant great things for His kingdom and this might involve change. You may no longer be a spring chicken, but that further qualifies you for God’s Indian summer. Will you embrace God’s ordained change?
Prayer:
Lord, I know my time on earth finishes only when you say so. While still alive, I am open to whatever you want to do through me. Raise my horizon and let me spend my twilight years doing kingdom work that will last forever. Amen.