Ecclesiastes 11: 9 – 12:8

1. What is a young man to be?
2. When is the young man to be what he should be?
3. What should he follow?
4. How does it sound to both “Love God and do what you like”?
5. Before old age creeps in, what enjoyable experiences could you grasp hold of?

My grandmother was crippled with arthritis and when the doctor told her that she couldn’t eat cakes and cookies because of diabetes, she just looked at us and said, “My life is buggered.”  My father-in-law, Jack, is so crippled now that there is very little he can do.  He said to Kelli when she visited, “This is no way to live.”

God has designed us for godly pleasures.  We are to enjoy our youth, be active, embrace life.  As a British T.V. show used to say, “Why don’t you just switch off your T.V. and go and do something less boring instead?”

Going Deeper

Observation

• While following the ways of your heart, what should you know about all the things you choose to do?
• What name does the author give to God as you remember him in the days of your youth?
• What happens to the sun, moon and stars?
• What is not stirred as the grasshopper drags himself along?
• What is the summary of life according to verse 8?

Interpretation

• Why would thinking of God as Creator be linked with God as a giver of pleasures?
• How does thinking of God and enjoying Creation present more opportunities before old age?
• Why is ‘meaningless’ a confusing translation?  Would ‘transient’ be better?
• Is chapter twelve using poetry to talk about parts of the body and how they lose their functions?
• Is chapter twelve talking about end times and comparing that with approaching death?

Application

• What do aging people who become less active teach you personally?
• How does your interaction with children teach them to celebrate life?
• How do we teach children to contemplate their Creator?
• If we live in a pleasure-driven society, why aren’t we having fun yet?
• How does church sometimes manage to drive the pleasure out of life?

Note:

I was taken aside by a concerned parent when I was teaching in Pakistan.  She asked me incredulously, did you say to your class that they should ‘Love God and do whatever they like’?  She looked like she would pull her kids from school when I admitted to quoting St. Augustine with approval.