Solomon tells us, “For everything there is a season.” So, for the readers who have passed their prime, like me, God still has something for us to do. But for this month, our attention is focused on our youth and the significance of them responding to God during this season of their lives.
Let me start by sharing some examples of “young people” who have changed the world that we live in during our lifetime.
- Bill Gates was 20 years old when he started Microsoft with his partner Paul Allen, who was 22 years old at that time. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard.
- Jeff Bezos founded e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle. Bezos was 30 years old at the time.
- Mark Zuckerberg attended Harvard University, where he launched Facebook in February 2004 with his roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Zuckerberg was 20 years old.
- LaRhonda Patrick became the first female African American Mayor of Warner Robins, Georgia at age 39.
- Joseph was seventeen when scripture introduces us to his life’s journey. Gen 37
- Moses had a calling on his life as an infant placed in a basket and set afloat in the Nile River.
- David: As is often the case, God chose the least likely candidate (1 Samuel 16:1–13). We are not told precisely how old David was at this time, but we know he was just a boy, probably between 10–15 years of age. Gotanswers.org
- Jeremiah began his ministry around age twenty. Ryrie Study Bible.
- Daniel, Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abednego) were teenagers when their Babylonian captivity began.
- Mary, the mother of Jesus was a teenager.
- The Twelve Disciples: Though the Bible does not give the exact ages of the disciples of Jesus, it is likely they were all between the ages of 13 and 30 at the time they followed Christ.
- Jesus was approximately thirty years old when He began His public ministry. Luke 3:23.
- Pastor Willie L. Reid Sr. was 28 years old when God inspired him to start Fellowship Bible Baptist Church
- Pastor Tolan J. Morgan was 22 years old (July 1997) when God called him to walk in the office of Preacher. He preached his initial sermon August 24, 1997 and was ordained in February of 1998 at the age of 23.
The Angel in His greeting (Judges 6:12) addressed Gideon as the man he would become by God’s enablement, not the man he was then. In the same way, God had called Abraham the father of a multitude before he had any children. He called Peter a rock before he behaved as one. He also calls Christians saints even though we are not yet as saintly as God will make us. Alternatively, this may simply have been a complimentary address. “One of the great truths of Scripture is that when God looks at us, He does not see us for what we are, but for what we can become, as He works in our lives.” Constable’s Notes, Judges 6.