TOO OLD FOR MAN. RIGHT ON TIME FOR GOD.

I have just been cleared to obtain my Annual Practising Certificate (APC) as a medical practitioner.

For many people, this should never have happened.

The questions came from every direction:

"Can you really return to medicine after being away from clinical practice for so many years?"

"At your age?"

"Can you really run a café?"

"Shouldn't you just slow down?"

Humanly speaking, they were valid questions.

But God has never been limited by the calculations of men.

When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him:

"You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over." (Joshua 13:1)

What a remarkable statement.

God did not say, "Joshua, you are old, therefore your greatest days are behind you."

God said, "Joshua, you are old, and there is still territory to possess."

Age was not God's disqualification.

Age was merely the backdrop against which God would display His power.

Today, I believe God is saying the same thing to me:

"Victor, you are now 57 years old, but there are still large areas of land I want you to take over."

Men see age.

God sees assignment.

Men see limitations.

God sees possibilities.

Men count the years that have passed.

God counts the purposes that remain.

The God who opened the door for my MMC registration and APC did not consult my age, my history, my qualifications, or the opinions of men. He simply released His grace.

And grace changes everything.

Grace is not merely unmerited favor.

Grace is divine empowerment.

Grace enables ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Grace takes what appears impossible and makes it inevitable.

Many people could not believe that I would finally receive my MMC and APC registrations.

Some doubted.

Some questioned.

Some quietly wrote me off.

Yet here I stand today as a testimony that when God opens a door, no man can shut it.

The victory belongs to the Lord.

FUTURE PLANS

The story is not finished.

In fact, I believe it is only beginning.

The Lord has placed dreams, visions, and future assignments in my heart that are larger than anything I have accomplished thus far.

Predictably, there will be doubters.

There always are.

When David stood before Goliath, King Saul told him:

"You cannot go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth." (1 Samuel 17:33)

Imagine if David had agreed with Saul.

Imagine if he had accepted the limitations others placed upon him.

History would have never known his name.

Even more painful, David's own brother Eliab ridiculed him.

The giant outside the camp was easier to overcome than the unbelief inside the camp.

And sometimes that remains true today.

Often the greatest resistance to a God-given vision does not come from strangers.

It comes from people closest to us.

People who love us.

People who care for us.

People who genuinely think they are protecting us.

Yet faith can never be built on the opinions of others.

Faith must be built on the voice of God.

Others may see recklessness.

You see calling.

Others may see impossibility.

You see divine opportunity.

Others may see obstacles.

You see the hand of God.

To Eliab, David was merely a spectator.

To God, David was a future king.

DOUBTERS ARE EVERYWHERE

One of the great lessons of life is this:

Not every voice deserves your attention.

David listened to God more than he listened to Saul.

He listened to God more than he listened to Eliab.

He listened to God more than he listened to public opinion.

Had he done otherwise, Goliath would still have been standing.

There are moments when faith requires us to respectfully ignore the experts, the critics, the skeptics, and even the well-meaning voices around us.

If God has spoken, that settles the matter.

The history of God's Kingdom is filled with people who were considered too old, too young, too weak, too inexperienced, too damaged, or too unlikely.

Yet God chose them anyway.

Why?

Because God receives greater glory when the result cannot be explained by human ability.

Today, at 57 years of age, I refuse to believe that my greatest days are behind me.

I refuse to believe that God's plans diminish with age.

I refuse to believe that destiny has an expiry date.

The God who restored my medical calling is the same God who will establish every assignment He has placed before me.

There is still territory to possess.

There are still battles to win.

There are still mountains to climb.

There are still dreams to fulfill.

And by the grace of God, I will take the land.

My age is not my limitation. My past is not my limitation. The opinions of men are not my limitation.

The grace of God is my advantage.

Amen.