Finishing Well and Being Perfected

I was invited to share with the Senior group of my church at the beginning of this year. The topic of ‘Finishing Well’ immediately came to my thought. I then went through the Bible to look for relevant and suitable verses. However, I found two biblical characters, Abraham and Moses, who caught my attention. Both were only called into their ‘ministry’ in their advanced age. Strangely, I was very surprised by a couple of things when I reread them.

Abraham

Abraham was first called while he was at UR of the Chaldeans (Acts 7:4). Later, he was called again at Haran after his father’s death at the age of 75 (Gen 12:4). The Bible said that he heeded God’s Call even though he did not know where he was going (Heb 11:8). He was at the age where most people today are retired and quietly doing less and not wanting to start a new ministry. For Abraham, it was a new ministry and beginning under God. When he came to Canaan, he might have thought that he had misheard God because, at that time, Canaan was in a famine, and it would be difficult to feed his people and his flock. The Scripture said that he went on to Egypt, where God had to give Pharaoh a bad dream, and finally, Abraham and his gang were sent back to Canaan. When he was in Canaan, he built an altar to worship God. Here the story went on assuring us that he trusted God fully in many events, including the over-powering of the kings who captured his nephew Lot; when the herdsmen of Lot and his were quarrelling, he allowed Lot to choose the ‘best’ part of the pasture of greenery; when the angels of the Lord visited him and promised a son; when he had to deal with the conflict of Hagar and Sarah over their son Ishmael; the negotiation with the angels of the Lord not to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. Stage by stage, Abraham was reckoned as the Father of Faith because of his great faith in God Almighty. God promised Abraham a son when he was 75 years old, where his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in heaven and sand on the seashore. This promised son, Isaac, was born to him when he was 100 years old. There was no complaint from Abraham recorded in the Bible.

I was caught in the strange event when God told Abraham to offer his son on Mount Moriah when he was possibly 112 years old. I am sure many of us have heard many sermons and done many bible studies on this before. I wonder, ‘Why did God ask Abraham to do that?’. To many of us, I am sure we are assuming that Abraham would not dare to tell his wife Sarah about this, and he probably has many sleepless nights. Some preachers I have heard shared that Abraham knew God would raise his son again, and others said that Abraham knew God would provide an alternative sacrifice. To me, these are hypotheses only. I reckoned Abraham was the Father of Faith, and he had certainly scored an A in God’s test up to this point, even before heading to Mount Moriah. I believe God was not testing Abraham the way which is like ours; instead, God is perfecting Abraham so that he could score A++ and show us that he was such an excellent example whom we shall imitate. The comparison I wish to make is likening to a great talented pianist who can play wonderful masterpieces to their perfection. She will keep practicing so much that her masterpieces have no flaws. God wanted Abraham to keep increasing his faith until there was no doubt in his belief. I sincerely believe Abraham has come to a stage where he fully trusted God; even if God wanted him to sacrifice his son, he had no qualms at all. His faith is up to the level only to heeding the voice of God and Himself, irrespective of his situation or condition. He knew his God was good and had a better plan for him and his family and descendant.

As senior people, we should be looking at Abraham as our guide and leader who resembled the perfector of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not how much we do but who we are to God and how resembling we are to Christlikeness. The ministry God calls us in our senior period is not any new ministry but rather an opportunity for us to be perfected by Him, the Great I AM.

Moses

I saw Moses in a similar situation. For the first 40 years, Moses was a prince of Egypt. For the next 40 years, he was a shepherd in the wilderness. For the third 40 years, he led the Israelites to the promised land. I believe Moses prayed daily and yearly while he was in the second 40 years in the wilderness. Yearly he prayed, and God did not answer him. In the 40th year, God called him from the burning bush. I am sure Moses would have many things to say to God. But God was only keen to tell Moses that He heard the cries of His people in Egypt. Of course, Moses was challenging God to hear his cries, which he longed to hear Him for 40 years. Thus, Moses gave all the excuses not to hear God’s call to be the leader to lead the people out of Egypt. In the end, Moses submitted to God’s call and returned to Egypt for this great task. Moses had learnt his lesson that God was always right and had no point arguing with Him. Throughout the Bible, we had not seen Moses complaining to God when he faced the Pharoah; came to the Red Sea; or hear the complaints of the people of no graves, no food, no meat, and no water; even when God told them to stay 40 years in the wilderness after the 10 spies refused to enter the promised land; when his leaders went against him; when the people sinned against God; when plagues raided the camp; when the Ishmaelites refused to allowed them to encamp in their land; etc. He had certainly learnt his lesson well. With each step he took, he knew there was no point in arguing with God, for He was good and had better plans. Finally, when Moses went to the mountain, Mount Nebo, which overlooked the promised land in Jordan, God told him that the promised land was lush and green, and they had finally arrived. I am sure Moses was extremely happy and glad by then, thinking we had finally arrived and our job was done. Then God turned to Moses and said, ‘I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over it.’ Can we imagine how Moses would have felt then?

Similarly, Moses had come to an excellent level of faith in trusting God. He knew so well to heed God’s voice and know Him was far better and greater than anything else, including entering the promised land. I do not think Moses has any regrets. Likewise, in our ministry and walk with God, we should not focus on achievements or successes; instead, we know God and be his obedient child. Ultimately, God wants to see and have us in his dwelling place, not what we have achieved or done in this world.

To finish well is to be the person God wants us to be, to know Him, and be obedient to His voice or call. To all seniors, let us continue to be perfected by God always. Abraham started his ministry of perfection at 75 and Moses at 80.