Daniel

When I was a young man, I heard a pastor in his 60s speaking longingly of retirement. I chided him for even thinking about getting out of the game. He just smiled at me and said, “You’ll understand.”

Somebody forgot to tell the statesman and prophet Daniel that he could have moved to Florida in his 60s. God had decided that he needed a super senior working for him at the top levels of government to look out for the interests of the Israelite people in captivity. Daniel was still working for the Babylonian, and then Persian, governments as an imperial administrator, overseeing one-third of the territorial governors, in his mid-80s!

A crisis erupted. Envious Persian governors who chafed at being accountable to Daniel flattered the Persian king into demanding divine worship for himself and pronouncing the death penalty on dissenters. Daniel was busted.  “So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, ‘May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!’”(Daniel 6:16). 

Can you imagine an 85-year-old man spending the night in a pit with starving lions? God shut the lions’ mouths and spared this amazing senior for even more significant work.

Seniors, be ready for God’s opportunities. God probably doesn’t need any more lion pit heroes, but your age is absolutely no hindrance for God’s ability to use your witness.