Daily Devotionals for Women - Today's Encouraging Word from Scripture

AM I TOO OLD?

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Genesis 17:1-2

Is anyone too old to come to Jesus? We know the right answer. “No, anyone, at any age, can trust Christ.” Yet, we can despair over the elderly parent close to us. They seem too far gone in their ability to see truth and trust a Savior. They have a history of sin and scripture says that sin upon sin brings deception. Their eyes are blinded by a lifetime of iniquity. Yet, new birth happens with prayer, warfare, scripture and a loving and gentle perseverance.

Is anyone too old for God to do a new thing? Again, we know the right answer. “God can call someone at 80 and his greatest achievement for the kingdom can be ahead of him.” Yet, we can despair over ourselves when, at mid-life, we feel we have blown it. The prime years of life are behind us and we believe we are too far gone for God to offer a pristine beginning. We call our life to this point ~ ‘wasted years’.

I consider Abram. He was ninety-nine when the Lord appeared and reiterated the blessing and covenant. God is about to change his name ~ a cataclysmic spiritual event that always precedes spiritual greatness. He is anything but washed up. Though, if we were to talk with Abram, he would need days, not hours, to tell us stories of his life. Yes, he had taken great steps of faith but also matched them with great steps of failure. He had betrayed his wife, taken a handmaiden to produce an heir, and made a mess of family relationships. If anyone could have felt disqualified, it was Abram.

Are you thinking of a senior adult as you read this? I am. A woman in her nineties. Three marriages. Two daughters who hate her; one physically assaulted her recently. She’s seen it all over the course of her life. Successful in business but jaded by the majority who have done anything for power, sex, and wealth. She doesn’t know Jesus yet. But recently, God has allowed her need of Him to surface and she’s open to the reality of prayer and God’s loving intervention. This is a first. Somehow, through a lifetime of experiences that would give anyone a hard heart, the love of Christ is breaking through to hers. Soon, He will call her name. She will hear and her greatest days may be ahead of her. She’s got five more years before she’s as old as Abram when God spoke. A God who is not impressed, nor restrained, by the limits of old age ~ stunned him.

No one is too old. Not others. Not me. No one is too far gone. Not others. Not me. In You, Jesus, all things are made new. Amen.

For more from Christine Wyrtzen and Jaime Wyrtzen Lauze, please visit www.daughtersofpromise.org