It’s Never Too Late

When you read the Old Testament, it is very obvious that the ancient people lived much longer, more vigorous lives than what we consider normal today.  But as I was reading my devotional this morning, I read something that just grabbed my attention, so down that rabbit hole I went; and, as a result, here are some points I was led to share with you.    

My search started with wanting to know the age of Adam and Eve when they had their first child – this is what the AI overview said:  “The Bible and historical texts do not specify the exact age of Adam and Eve when they had their first child, Cain. Because they were created as adults and their early ages were not recorded, their exact age at the time remains unknown….The First Mention of Age: The first time the Bible records Adam’s age is when he was 130 years old, which is when he and Eve had their third named son, Seth.  The Book of Jubilees: This ancient non-canonical Jewish text estimates that Eve gave birth to Cain between the ages of 64 and 70.   Theological Consensus: Biblical scholars generally agree that Cain and Abel were conceived and born after they were expelled from the Garden of Eden.”  Adam lived to be 930 years old (Genesis 5:5) – Eve’s age upon death isn’t addressed.  

Noah – it’s believed that he was about 500 years old when he started building the ark and at age 600 he completed that job and the rains fell.  He and his family had a big job ahead of them and the earth was repopulated from them.  (His story is in Genesis chapters 6-9)

Abraham and Sarah – They yearned for a child for many years and were promised a child by God (Genesis 15), but as they aged and time marched on and no child was conceived their hope faded.  BUT GOD….when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old – a child was born.  (Their full story is in Genesis chapters 11-25)

Moses – he was about 80 years old when he led the Israelites out of Egypt and was 120 years old when he and the Israelites arrived at the Promised Land.  He was a strong leader that went through a lot dealing with those rebellious people, in order to follow the commands given to him by God.  Because of a mistake he made he was not allowed to cross into the Promised Land with the Israelites and was instructed to bring Joshua alongside him as his protege to finish that job.  (Moses’ story crosses from the books of Exodus, into Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.)  

Joshua – research seems to indicate that he was about 60 years of age when he succeeded Moses and led the Israelites into their Promised Land.  Like Moses, he was a strong leader and led the Israelites to victory as they conquered the land.  (Information about Joshua first is recorded in Exodus revealing him as a young military leader, then into Numbers when he served as Moses’ assistant.  But the book of Joshua is the full story of his leadership and successes.)  Joshua died at the age of 110 having accomplished God’s calling on his life.    

Caleb – when the Israelites arrived at the border of the Promised Land, Caleb and Joshua were the only two of the 12 spies Moses sent to spy out that land that came back, still full of faith believing they could move forward and stake their claim to what God had promised to them – regardless of what their eyes had seen as potential hurdles in the land.  Scripture indicates he was the same age as Joshua and his story is what was covered in my devotional that sparked this whole thing.  

Remember that regardless of the strong faith of Joshua and Caleb, the disbelief and bad report of the other 10 spies, caused the entire Israelite community to have to turn around, leave their Promised Land behind, only to wander in the desert for 40 more years.  During that 40 years, all of the adults in the group that were the doubters, too fearful to follow God died, leaving the next generation along with Joshua and Caleb to finally realize the promise that had been made to them.   

Can you imagine how Joshua and Caleb felt?  They had been full of faith, ready for action, only to be left to deal with the naysayers and the delay of 40 more years!  It would’ve been easy to get bitter, throw up their hands and just give in to anger and frustration so that by the time they arrived back at that border again they wouldn’t want any part of leading those people.  They could’ve stepped back into the shadows and had God bring up new leaders to handle the job before them.  

How often in our own lives do we face circumstances, that not of our own making, we are included in the negative consequences anyway?  How do we handle that?  Do we react badly?  Do we give up and step back, washing our hands of the whole thing?  Do we pout and then play the blame game?  Or, do we, like Jacob and Caleb, step up and fulfill our responsibilities and see it through to success?

In Joshua 14, after entering that Promised Land, Caleb approached Jacob and reminded him of the promise that had been made to him about his inheritance.  This is what he said to Jacob:  “‘Today I am eighty-five years old. I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.’  So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land.” (Verses 10b-13 NLT)  Caleb wasn’t thinking “Now that I’m 85 years old, I’m too old to accomplish what was promised to me.”  He didn’t have a feeling of despair.  He felt strong and filled with the same faith in God as he had 45 years before – and success was his.

“Life is filled with waiting.  That’s part of living in relationship with a very patient and thorough God.  But we don’t wait without purpose; we’re waiting for something.  And when the time comes, God suddenly fulfills what He said He would do.  We may have wondered if that day would ever come, but the Kingdom is not a place of empty promises.  God means for us to receive them and rejoice in the fulfillment.  And when we do, it’s as if the years didn’t matter.  It’s never too late to enjoy what He has done.”*

Written by Karran Martin – May 30, 2026

[Bold emphasis in the Bible quotes and devotional quotes are mine]

*Quote from The One Year Heaven On Earth Devotional written by Chris Tiegreen