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Dust on the Bottle from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Today I want to talk about something we try to avoid: growing older. It is something that everyone blessed with a long life will face. As gray hair begins to come, we can begin to feel less useful, like our time has passed, when it may not have gotten here. While it is true that there is time for changing the guard, there is always a proper place for you in the kingdom of God, for age does not stop God from using you.

For example, when Ananias and Sapphira lied to God in Acts 5:6, the Apostle Peter spoke through the Holy Spirit, and they fell dead. The young men then carried them out and buried them. The Apostle Peter did not have to tote them, or use a shovel, for each has their own place in the body of Christ.

Wine gets better with age. It’s true. We used to make wine, and new wine tastes a lot like gasoline. Young wine is volatile and explosive. I once had an airlock blow off and spray blueberry wine on the ceiling. Aging tempers and matures it into a better version of itself. It’s the same wine, but older, and better. Having some dust on the bottle simply means it is maturing. People are much the same way.

Let’s examine the life of Moses. His family were Hebrew slaves in Egypt, but Moses was raised in the palace by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:10). He would have been well educated, trained in the military, and well dressed. When he was a young man, he was watching the Hebrew slaves one day and he saw an Egyptian slave driver beating one of the Hebrews. It angered Moses so much that he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. Let’s read Exodus 2:11:

Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Exodus 2:11–12 NKJV 

Now we read this and continue on, but the Egyptian with the whip probably did not stand there and quietly receive a murder. This was a violent struggle to the death. In a sudden rage, Moses murdered an Egyptian with his own bare hands and buried him in a shallow grave. When Pharaoh learned of it, Moses had to flee the country. Pharaoh did not want Moses “dead or alive”—he just wanted him dead.

During his first day in Midian, Moses was sitting by a well when some women brought their father’s sheep to drink. They drew up water from the well bucket by bucket and filled the drinking troughs. Then some shepherds came and drove them away, planning to let their sheep have the water the women drew up instead.

These shepherds were lazy bullies who were taking advantage of the helpless young women. They were caught off guard when they met the young and fiery Moses at the well, who had just beaten a slave master to death. He instantly drove them away. This time Moses practiced a little more restraint. He drove them away, but he did not kill any of them.

Apparently these shepherds had bullied the young women daily, because that day their father was surprised when they came home early. They told him, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds” and their father knew who “the shepherds” were. He told them to go and get Moses and bring him home to eat with them. Moses stayed with him and married his daughter Zipporah, then settled down to life as a shepherd. I doubt that the girls had any more trouble with the shepherds bullying them at the well. 

Moses stayed forty years in Midian tending sheep. He was content and planning to retire right there as a shepherd. Then one day the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush and He wanted Moses to return to Egypt and free his people. He said “I have seen their oppression, I have heard their cry, now come and I will send you.” Moses told Him: “Please send someone else.”  But the Lord would not take no for an answer, and after much convincing, Moses agreed to go back to Egypt. He was now eighty years old.

Moses returned to Egypt, met with Pharaoh, and after many signs and wonders, he agreed to let the Hebrew slaves go. Moses performed miracle after miracle, met with God and spoke face to face (Exodus 33:11). At times, after meeting with God, Moses’ face would shine so bright with God’s glory that he had to wear a veil to keep from scaring people (Exodus 34:35). All of this happened to Moses after his 80^th birthday.

There is an interesting statement in Numbers 12:3: “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3 NKJV). Ecclesiastes 7:8 reads: “The end of a thing is better than its beginning” (Ecclesiastes 7:8 NKJV). 

Moses changed. He was once a fiery young man, but he became humble, wise, and a friend of God. He became the most humble man on Earth, but he did not begin that way. His greatest years, were his later years.

The Apostle Paul was much the same. When he was a young, zealous pharisee, he guarded the robes of those that stoned Stephen to death (Acts 7:58). He got papers from the high priest to arrest Christians and dragged them from their homes, torturing and imprisoning them (Acts 26:11). But then he met Jesus along the way and in the later years of his life, he wrote much of the New Testament that we have today.

Time passes by. We become better. The end of a thing is better than its beginning. Don’t let doom and gloom creep in on you. There is wisdom that God has placed in You that others do not have, for it came from experience. There is nothing wrong with a little dust on the bottle.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, whatever is left of my life, I give to You. Use me, shape me, and mold me as You see fit. Temper me and let me age gracefully. Fill me with Your word, Your wisdom and Your Spirit. When it is time for me to go home, I will not be afraid for I am Yours, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

Note: As many of you know, we are located on the US East Coast, in South Carolina. As such, we may experience some effects from Hurricane Dorian later in the week, including power outages - just a heads up :). If the website does happen to go down temporarily, feel free to visit our Facebook page for updates. Whatever the case, let's pray for His protection over all those facing serious damage from the storm! God bless you all <3!