Age and Other Limits

Last night, at the age of 68, University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun became the oldest basketball coach to ever win an NCAA men’s basketball championship. In his team’s 53-41 win over the Butler Bulldogs, Calhoun earned his third title in his 39-year coaching career.

Calhoun’s milestone reminded me this morning about a man in Scripture whose age also made history. His name was Abraham, and, at the age of 100, he and his wife, Sarah, who was only 10 years younger, gave birth to their son, Isaac. While Abraham and Sarah had known for many years that God promised them a child, they couldn’t see how that would happen in their old ages.

Clearly, God is not human. He fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah and gave them a son, who would be a pivotal man in history and lineage even though he had been born to parents who were beyond “childbearing years” (Genesis 18:11). Abraham and Sarah had to wait for the promise, and they had to have great faith, but in the end, they were blessed as the hand of God moved and He proved Himself both faithful and powerful.

Sometimes in life we get stuck on human limitations and start to doubt God’s power. We think that because something isn’t “humanly possible,” it’s just not going to happen. We think that, because we can’t figure it out in our own minds, that there’s no way it could ever happen—even if we believe it is something God has promised us.

Is that you? Have you stopped believing in God’s greatness? Today is a great day to start believing again. No matter what doubts you have or what seemingly insurmountable limitations you are facing, you can choose to believe that God is more powerful. Maybe like Coach Calhoun, age is creeping up on you and the world is telling you that you’re past your prime. That’s not what God’s Word says about you, but it’s up to you whether or not you believe the world or the Truth. Or, maybe it’s the opposite case, and you feel like you’re too young and inexperienced to take on a difficult or “impossible” challenge. If so, go back and read what God did in the lives of young men like David, Joseph and King Josiah. Youth and stature were non-issues for God in their cases, and He did amazing things through each of them.

The point is that, with God, nothing is impossible. No, a 68-year-old coach winning a national title isn’t all that far-fetched, but a 100-year-old man and 90-year-old woman giving birth to a strapping baby boy is. A young, inexperienced kid taking down a massive warrior giant with a sling and a stone is. And the same God who orchestrated the lives of those patriarchs of faith is the same one who has promised you a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

It’s time to quit believing the world when it comes to what is possible and what isn’t. We serve a God who isn’t bound by human limitations, and, if He is in our situation, then nothing can stand in the way. Whatever you do today, refuse to buy into the world’s opinion of possible, and instead believe in the all-powerful, almighty God and trust Him to overcome the odds.