Solomon closes out this section by writing about what happens after old age: “Then man goes to his long (eternal) home and mourners go about the streets.” All throughout Ecclesiastes, Solomon has spoken clearly about the fact that death comes to all people. Suffice it to say that, unless Jesus comes back while we are still alive and takes us into heaven at the Rapture, every one of us here will die. Our lives will end one day in the future and that is the conclusion of old age.
So, what do we do in our old age? Do we just sit around somberly with sad faces and wait for death to take us? Absolutely not!
In Verses 6 & 7 Solomon addresses the joy of old age. Solomon says things are going to start breaking down in our bodies; things are not working like they used to; and, in our old age, we are obviously a lot closer to the end of our lives than to the beginning. But, Solomon says, this should cause us to take the time to remember God before the end comes; to remember who He is while we can; to honor Him with our lives and remember all He has done and all He continues to do for us.
Solomon addresses the joy of old age. Solomon says things are going to start breaking down in our bodies; things are not working like they used to; and, in our old age, we are obviously a lot closer to the end of our lives than to the beginning. But, Solomon says, this should cause us to take the time to remember God before the end comes; to remember who He is while we can; to honor Him with our lives and remember all He has done and all He continues to do for us.
The prophet Isaiah clearly shows why we should remember God in our old age in Isaiah 46: 3, 4 where the Lord said,
“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
God doesn’t just carry you or walk with you when you are young. He walks with you and talks with you and sustains you and carries you and cares for you to and through your old age! That is why we can and should have joy in our old age and really in every age.
Ecclesiastes 11: 8a says, “However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all.”
Old age may have its own unique set of problems as Solomon has so clearly described. But those problems and realities are not supposed to drag us down to the point where we do not enjoy life. Old age is just another phase of life and as with all the other phases, we are to enjoy it despite its problems! The joy of old age is the ability to remember God and thank Him while you can.
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