Culture
Too Young to Be So Old
By Dr. Wanda Turner.
“Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is waiting on you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.” (Message Bible, II Peter 3:8,9)
“Geriatric”, “aged”, “elderly”, “old”, “ancient”, “from way back”, “centenarians”…these are terms all too familiar when describing the lifeline of so many senior citizens in our nation and abroad. Why is that? Maybe because men and women are living longer lives. Perhaps because of better medical information and treatments, insightful diet and exercise controls and as well people that have a will to do so – are living actually longer.
Every now and then, we bump into people who we refer to as “old souls”. They have wisdom beyond their chronological years, they seem to possess a state of maturity that is phenomenal! I call them persons that are “too young to be so old’! And while it seems that I am meeting more and more young men and young women who fit this description. I have to admit that there are two others recorded in God’s Holy Words that can speak even louder to this phenomenon or marvel.
The first is the young prophet Jeremiah. It is reflected in the text of Jeremiah 1:4-10. Listen to language of his early life as recorded in the Message Bible:
“This is what God said: ‘Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations. That’s what I had in mind for you.’
But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me. I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!”
God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’ I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there. I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it. Don’t be afraid of a soul. I’ll be right there, looking after you.”
God’s Decree
God reached out, touched my mouth, and said, “Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth – hand-delivered! See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job to do among nations and governments – Red letter day! Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and demolish, And then start over, building and planting”.
What do you do – young men and ladies when you are born a pediatric prophet? You really want to play ball with the rest of “your boys” or comb your doll’s hair with the neighborhood girls…but there is a call on your life that pushes you away from games, toys and gadgets. It is the voice of God that has commanded you to understand that you were born to speak into the lives of men and women…and that sometimes your assignment begins almost at birth.
Did I say sometimes your assignment begins almost at birth? Wow…let me correct that statement, because sometimes when “you are so young to be so old” your assignment may begin before birth.
A Pediatric God
What do you do when you are a “pediatric-God”. You were in the beginning yet pushed yourself out of your mom’s warm, protective womb. You lay your head on your mom’s breast that you yourself had in fact created. You drank milk, milk you created from her breast that created…because you were a “pediatric-God” and Too Young to Be So Old.
Jesus grew and reached the tender age of twelve. Even at that young age, he reasoned with the seasoned theologians and philosophers of that day. During a trip to the Temple, he became so engrossed in his Father’s work, his family did not realize he was still at the Temple until they arrived home without him.
When you finally look up and away from the religious scholars of that day – you are not amazed to see that your family has left you behind. Why? Because you’re God created (John 1:14) in the flesh and you are omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. That means you are present everywhere all the time; you know all things about all people, places and things all the time, and you have all power all the time, everywhere. So you already knew that your mom and dad would go home without you. And, you also knew when they would return…so although on earth you are twelve years old and presumed “too young to be so old” – you were in existence actually before the beginning. You knew exactly when your parents and siblings would come running to find you because you know all things about all people, places and things at all times! You are God manifested in the flesh and there you sit…not answering questions, but being brilliant and asking questions. The sign of a high IQ, is not in your answers but in your questions!
From Boy to Man
As a young adult, you’ve made many friends in the neighborhood. One of your associates invites you, your mom and your disciples to his wedding in Cana. May I inject that knowing who to invite to the special events of your life, will determine when trouble arises if you qualify for a miracle. And, a miracle, as you know, is simply an intervention by God into the affairs of your life to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.
Because you are God manifested in the flesh – “man that is too young to be so old” – you knew before attending the wedding, that your super-natural, miraculous powers would be needed to bail your friends out when you run out of wine at the reception.
Here this young man must once again pick up his deity, his power, his authority and influence and submit once again to his earthly parents. Why? Because although he was “too young to be so old”, he knew that it was too soon for his real identity to be revealed.
He travelled North, South, East and West…praying, healing and feeding. I’m not sure if Jesus was a praying healer…or if Jesus was a healing prayer. Either way…he always seemed to bring food into the equation of life. So many incidences where he even provided food supernaturally for small and large groups. These activities the Young Jesus…”too young to be so old” continued until he reaches John 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:” (4) I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (5) And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” Was he 32 years of age when he hung on the Cross of Calvary…or was it aeons of times, seasons and centuries that this “that this man too young to be so old” give his life so that we might have life and that more abundantly.
Today, do not let the suffering, the grief, the pain, the agony of life on earth and life on the cross of this Young Man too Young to be so old be in vain. Accept what He has done for each of us…receive what He gave to each of us and enjoy who He is in each of us…Jesus the Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, Healer, Protector and Provider. For you too, like Jeremiah and others, may also be one of those characterized as Too Young to Be So Old!
Dr. Wanda A. Turner is a nationally acclaimed Minister, Teacher, Prophet, Life Coach and Best-selling Author
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