“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Ecclesiastes 12: 1 KJV).
If a young person lives long enough, they will definitely say when they get old, “I have no pleasure in them.” The young person has, for the most part, a trouble-free life. Unless they’re brought up in a Christian home and are taught some morals and discipline, they live only for fun and pleasure. Young people are usually too busy having fun, pursuing pleasure, and sowing their wild oats to have any thought about God, their Creator and Judge, their soul’s salvation, and where they will spend eternity.
Many young people are burning the candle at both ends and then blowing the smoke in God’s face, forgetting that they must one day answer to Him for how they lived (vs. 13, 14).
We are not young forever. We’re really not young very long. The passage from youth to old age is very quick. While we are young and healthy and have a healthy mind, we don’t think about getting old and losing our good health and mind.
A young person doesn’t have many responsibilities or health issues. But when they get old, they have a mountain of responsibilities and health issues. While they were young, they were distracted from thinking about God and their soul’s salvation with fun and pleasure. When they get old, they’re distracted from thinking about God and their soul’s salvation by all their ailments. Problems follow problems as “clouds return after the rain” (v. 2).
In Ecclesiastes 12, King Solomon describes all the signs of aging; how the body begins to deteriorate and break down before we die. The young person should speak with an elder to find out how much time is spent visiting the doctor and taking medications to hopefully slow down the aging process. Learning from an elderly person’s experience may lead to an understanding that the young person will eventually be in a similar situation. But by the young person meeting God and trusting Christ as their Savior, they will learn to live for God and walk in fellowship with Him. By having God’s help and companionship, the young person will become, in their later years, a pillar in the church.
