✝️ They Also Serve Who Stand and Wait

Good morning, my brothers! Today we’re addressing something many of you have shared with us: the fear that your best years of service to God are behind you. When the 17th-century poet John Milton faced blindness at 43, he thought his calling was over. But God revealed a profound truth that speaks directly to every man feeling sidelined by age or limitation: “They also serve who stand and wait.” Your calling doesn’t expire with age … it may actually be moving you closer, not further, from His throne and His greatest work yet. Let’s go!

This week’s manly topics (5-min read):

🔎 PERSPECTIVE One of the consistent themes in the messages we receive from the MTM fraternity each week is fear that our value to God (and others) diminishes as we age and lose capacity. Let’s explore that together.
📰  NEWS We forego our usual news coverage to introduce you to the Joshua Fund, a Christian non-profit whose mission is to bless Israel and its neighbors in accordance to Genesis 12:1-3. Find out more in this week’s “News” section.
😭 MISSED OUR 6/12 EVENT? That is a shame but you can find out how to watch the replay below👇 it/s the next best thing to having been there!

PERSPECTIVE
They Also Serve Who Stand and Wait

In 1652, the brilliant English poet John Milton faced a devastating diagnosis: At just 43 years old (what we might consider the prime of his career) his eyesight was failing rapidly.

For a man whose life revolved around reading, writing, and scholarship, the approaching darkness felt like a death sentence. Milton had already established himself as one of England’s most promising literary voices. He’d traveled through Italy, where he studied with the leading intellectuals of his day. His early written works showed extraordinary promise.

Most importantly, he dreamed of creating a literary epic that would stand alongside Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid … something that would secure England’s place in the pantheon of great literature. But now, as the darkness loomed at the edges of his vision, those dreams seemed to be slipping away into permanent night.

In his anguish, Milton penned what would become one of his most famous sonnets, known today as “On His Blindness.” The poem begins with raw honesty about his fear and frustration (time for a King James English refresher): “When I consider how my light is spent / Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, / And that one talent which is death to hide / Lodged with me useless…”

Here was a man grappling with what felt like premature obsolescence. His “one talent” (his gift for poetry) seemed destined to remain “lodged with me useless.” He wrestled with a question that haunts many of us as we age: What value do I have to God when my capacities are diminished?

Milton’s internal dialogue in the sonnet reveals his struggle: “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?” In other words, how can God expect him to do meaningful work when He has apparently taken away the very tool (his sight) that made such work possible?

But then, in the poem’s final lines, Milton records a revelation that would reshape not only his understanding of service but the trajectory of his entire life. In the sonnet, Milton personifies the virtue of patience as a voice that speaks to his restless questioning with a profound truth: God's purposes are not contingent on our strength, skill, or wisdom. The Almighty has mighty angels (the “thousands”) who speed across land and ocean at His bidding, accomplishing His will with supernatural power. God doesn’t need our work or talents to fulfill His plans.

Throughout Scripture, we see this pattern: God tells His people He doesn’t need them to build Him a house on earth, but rather wants to prepare them to dwell with Him in His heavenly “house.” What God desires most is our faithful submission to His will. “Who best bear his mild yoke, they serve him best.”

And then comes the line that unlocked Milton's future: “They also serve who only stand and wait.”

This last line (“They also serve who only stand and wait”) became the key that unlocked Milton’s future. God was showing him that the most honored positions in a king’s court were not always those of the ambassadors racing across continents, but of the counselors who stood close to the throne, ready to receive the king's thoughts and wisdom.

What happened after Milton’s revelation is nothing short of remarkable. Far from ending his career, his blindness became the catalyst for his greatest achievements. During the following decades, as he dictated to secretaries and family members, Milton produced Paradise Lost … arguably the greatest epic poem in the English language. He also wrote Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes, securing his place as one of history’s most influential poets.

But his service extended beyond literature. Milton became Secretary for Foreign Tongues to Oliver Cromwell’s government, helping to shape England through one of its most turbulent periods. His political writings defended religious liberty and the rights of citizens against tyrannical rulers.

His blindness had not diminished his usefulness to God’s purposes: it had refined and focused it.

John Milton’s Message to the MTM Fraternity

Four centuries later, Milton’s revelation speaks directly to the hearts of men in the MTM fraternity who are wrestling with their own version of his struggle. The reader responses to our recent issues reveal a common thread: men in their 60s, 70s, and beyond who are questioning their continued value as their physical capabilities ebb.

“I have come to a time in life where I question my value,” writes one 64-year-old reader. Another, battling stage 4 cancer, wonders about his purpose while fighting for each day. A 74-year-old admits, "There are still times when I feel like at my age, I have very little to offer."

These honest confessions echo Milton’s initial despair. Like him, we’ve been conditioned to equate our worth with our productivity, our value with our vigor. When strength wanes, when vision dims, when memory occasionally falters, we fear we’ve moved from asset to liability in God's economy.

But Milton’s discovery challenges this entire framework. God’s purposes are not constrained by our limitations: they are often revealed through them.

The Lifecycle of Faith

Scripture consistently shows us that God’s most faithful servants experienced what Moses did: they “grew old and full of years.” This wasn't a design flaw but a design feature. Consider the pattern:

• Abraham received his greatest promise—that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars—when he was already old and Sarah was past childbearing age. His body was "as good as dead," yet God was just getting started with him.

• Isaac’s blessing of Jacob occurred when his eyes were so dim he couldn’t distinguish between his sons. Yet this blessing, given in physical weakness, shaped the entire future of Israel.

• Jacob’s most prophetic moments came at the end of his life, when he blessed each of his sons and outlined their destinies. His physical frailty didn't diminish his spiritual authority: it seemed to enhance it.

• Joseph spent his final years not as the powerful vizier of Egypt, but as an aging man preparing the next generation. His last recorded words weren't commands or policies, but a promise about God's faithfulness that sustained Israel through centuries of slavery.

• Moses presents the most remarkable example. At 120 years old, we’re told that “his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone,” yet God chose this moment to call him home. Even more striking: “He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.” God Himself attended to Moses in his final moment and burial … the ultimate expression of honor and intimacy.

These men’s greatest contributions often came not despite their aging, but because of it. Their years had taught them to lean more heavily on God, to see more clearly what truly mattered, to speak with the authority that comes only from a lifetime of walking with the Almighty.

Like Milton, they discovered that usefulness to God is not primarily about physical capacity but spiritual sensitivity. They had learned to “stand and wait” … to position themselves close to God's throne, ready to receive His thoughts and plans.

Three Actions for Those Who Stand and Wait

If God’s pattern holds true—and it does—then your best years of service may still lie ahead. But preparation is required. Here are three practical steps to position yourself as one who serves by standing and waiting:

First, increase your spiritual sensitivity through daily time in God’s Word and prayer. Your usefulness to God is far less about physical capacity than spiritual receptivity. You cannot participate in His grand plans if you're not tuned in to His voice. The prophet Isaiah reveals the beautiful connection between daily listening and being equipped to bless others:

This morning-by-morning rhythm of reading Scripture (whether a verse, a chapter, or more) and prayer develops your ability to know exactly what to say and do to express God’s blessing in every situation. The men in Scripture who served effectively in their later years had spent decades developing this intimacy with God. Start now, or deepen what you already have. Make this daily connection non-negotiable. It’s your direct line to our King’s heart and plans.

Second, preserve and develop the physical capacity you still have. This doesn’t contradict the spiritual truth we’ve established: it supports it. God has given you a “vehicle” to steward, and faithful stewardship means following the training, nutrition, sleep, and health insights we share each week in MTM. You’re not trying to reclaim your 25-year-old body; you’re stewarding what God has entrusted to you now. Every push-up, every healthy meal, every good night’s sleep is an act of faithfulness that keeps you available for whatever He has planned.

Third, invest in relationships now, anticipating that you may need to rely on others in the days ahead. Rather than dreading future dependence, see it as an opportunity to bless others through the grace with which you receive their care. Sow into the lives around you now … your family, your church community, your neighbors. Ask God to make you a blessing to them. When you’re walking closely with Him through daily Word and prayer, you’re guaranteed to be a blessing. These relationships you’re investing in today may become the very channels through which God accomplishes His purposes through you tomorrow.

The fear that drives so many of our struggles with aging is the fear of becoming a useless burden. No man who has spent his life as a responsible protector and provider wants to end up depending on his wife or children for basic needs, or burdening them with his pain and limitations.

But Milton’s revelation and Scripture’s pattern show us that God's economy operates by different rules. He doesn’t discard His servants when their strength fails. He draws them closer to His throne.

God can strengthen our bodies and minds as well as fill our hearts with grace so that we finish our days as a blessing to those around us, not a burden.

Your physical capacities may be changing, but your calling hasn’t expired. You’re role and contribution may be changing but your value is not.

The question isn't whether God still has purposes for you (He does.) The question is whether you’ll position yourself to hear them and fulfill them with the wisdom that only comes from years of faithful walking with Him.

They also serve who stand and wait. And sometimes, those who stand closest to the throne serve in ways that echo through eternity.

THIS JUST IN
📣 NEWS FROM AROUND THE WEB 📣 

🚨 Priority Alert 🚨
“I will bless those that bless you ....” Genesis 12:3

Introducing Joshua Fund: The Joshua Fund is directly involved in service and outreach in Israel and, as soon as possible, in Iran. They have not asked MTM to promote them but we know they are a excellent ministry investment. Here is a message we received from a friend who works with them to share with the MTM fraternity:

As conflict escalates between Israel and Iran, families across the region are facing unimaginable fear, trauma, and loss. Through Joshua Fund’s Rapid Response Fund, your gifts provide urgent aid—food, water, emergency supplies, trauma care, and more—across Israel and Her Neighbors. Your generosity equips trusted partners and local churches to bring help and hope where it’s needed most.

Learn more and give whatever you can at JoshuaFund.com

Please join Will and the MTM team in standing in the gap by praying the following prayer: