Why now at 70 and not 30? “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him (Moses) in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.” Acts 7:30, NASB In Exodus, we read a little bit more of Moses' response to the Lord’s calling to him, after the Lord appeared to him.
7-8 God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9-10 “The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.”
11 Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (emphasis mine)
12 “I’ll be with you,” God said. “And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain.”
13 Then Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’” The Message When I was 30, having already been married 7 years, with my wife being just 25, with two sons and two daughters having escaped out of the womb, the Lord had already put in my heart to “go to the nations”. I can remember being 10, and my mom talking about how she had always wanted to be a missionary and telling me about it. But with her marriage and eight kids to raise, that never happened. I think her heart became mine, which had come from the same Father. But now, at the ripe old age of 70, that long-held desire of my heart, which He had put there, is being fulfilled. My wife Laurie and I are going to Jerusalem to volunteer at Christian Friends of Israel for three months. Finally! But why did the Lord wait so long? Why wasn’t the time right for me to go at 30, when I, really, really wanted to? When I was young, and full of wisdom, and knew more than the Lord did. Or so I thought at times. Looking back at the patriarchs, i.e., Abraham, Moses, even David, it is almost plain to see that the Lord loves those who are “seasoned”, “prepared”, “having gone through the wringer” (an ancient term that very old people know about.) I do see the wisdom of the Lord now. It has only taken me 40 years. Now firmly believing, as one should, that “when I am weak He is strong”. “Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10, NASB God the Father seems to know what is best. After all, “Father Knows Best”, as the TV show proved, beginning in 1954 (the year of my birth) through 1960, had us all believing in a godly father, a godly mother, a loving household, and the good ways of American life back then. Before much of it was stained by the ways of the world. My heart is to see those of you who have reached those “golden years” to realize that it is not the time to retire, to sit on the front porch swing (which I do enjoy) and read the latest Robert Whitlow novel (whom I know personally and highly recommend.) It is time for us to use that wisdom, those years of hard knocks and knives in the back, scares on our knees from praying, and joys that we know He has blessed us with, and go to the cities, the states, the nations…and do what our great Father, the Living God of Israel, has so prepared for us to do. Let’s go! Ahava and Shalom, Steve Martin P.S. Laurie and I are volunteering in Jerusalem, Israel, with Christian Friends of Israel for three months, Oct. 15, 2025 – Jan. 12, 2026. Read all about it! Steve & Laurie - Time Coming for Jerusalem Volunteers. We welcome your prayers and support as we together bless Israel and His people in their Land. Contributions are welcome online by clicking here on our webpage. DONATE HERE Are you new to these messages, or has another shared them with you? Sign up here to receive it directly in your email InBox. Click on the nice, full of brew coffee mug with the Love For His People logo on it, found on each side column of the webpage. You will be glad you did! Sign Up for Steve Martin's Messages | 
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Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA