Years of Service Years of Retirement

Numbers 8:23 – The LORD said to Moses,

Numbers 8:24 – “This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting,

Numbers 8:25 – but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer.

Numbers 8:26 – They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”

Levites were appointed to serve God in the Sanctuary. However young Levites couldn’t serve. Once could only serve from age twenty-five onwards.

At age twenty-five growth is complete. At age twenty-five all possible learning and training has taken place. At age twenty-five a person appreciates various aspects of life. At age twenty five the person can be trusted to make decisions for the good of themselves and others. It is at that age that Levites begun serving at the Sanctuary.

This teaches us that we need to spend childhood in preparation of service and responsibility. This is what parents and teachers must spend time doing to those in their care. Be teachable dear teenagers. Accept to be guided and soon you will put in charge. Without proper preparation before twenty-five, the years afterwards will be disaster.

Don’t drop out of school. Don’t defy your teachers. Don’t waste time in indecisive juggling of career. Time is short, get prepared well. By age twenty-five may God make you responsible for yourself and others. 

Years of service according to this passage are from age twenty-five to age fifty. These are years of active service. These are years when you do everything for the Lord, for the community and for yourself. Years when you are strong, agile, you can take risks and you are aggressive. These are the years that God wants from you!

Ecclesiastes 12:1 – Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—

God wants your service in your best years. God knows there are years when you may have good intentions but without ability because of ageing. God told Levites that they should serve Him during their best years!

Don’t give the world your best years then plan to give God your tired years. You can serve God concurrently with your other pursuits. You can be a part literature evangelist. You can be an evangelist during your break from work. You can be active in church work as you serve business and government. Don’t plan to serve God well after making money and when you have made it. God needs you now!

After age fifty, God told Moses that the Levites must retire. They retire when they are still strong enough to do many other things for themselves and their families. They don’t retire when they are spent and wasted. They retire when they can still add value. 

That meant that a Levite needed clear plans of what they would do after retirement. They would still be strong enough. What is your post retirement plan? What will be your productive day to day activities after retirement?

Those activities after retirement are what adds value to life and keeps us healthy to live longer. Those are activities that are personal and self-driven from which one is not pushed out to retire. Activities post retirement are important.

The Bible also tells us that after retirement they may help at the Sanctuary. May help suggests that they may or may not be needed. May help means they can choose to say no to additional service. May help means those in charge may choose not to involve them.

They may help in the Sanctuary in small duties but not the main assignments of the priests. That means retired people can still be very useful to the ministry they have retired from. They may be used to support those in active service. They may not be engaged in active service but they offer critical support.

Therefore, it is in bad taste if a retiree walks away from work and wants nothing completely to do with that work even when they are needed to give some help or guidance. It is proper to be available if one will be needed to support those in active ministry. Retirement is not banishment from service. 

Deuteronomy 34:7 – Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.

The case we have presented here was the case for Levites who served as Priests. Other leaders like Moses served all the way to age 120 years. Moses was only replaced when he died. Moses’ assignment and that of other prophets seemed to have no entry age nor retirement age. Samuel entered prophetic ministry as a minor. Moses leave prophetic ministry at death. Prophetic assignment of speaking for God seems to be a life time assignment and not pegged to age.

Whether you are in a ministry with age restrictions or without age restrictions, its good to give God your best years. It is good to plan to retire even from personal business so that your later years are in ease as God intended. May God empower us today to serve Him in the best way possible and to totally enjoy our retirement. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

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