Useful Bible Studies > Ecclesiastes Commentary > chapter 11

Enjoy life – but remember God’s judgement

Ecclesiastes 11:9

If anyone knows how to enjoy life, young people do. For them, life seems to offer a series of adventures and opportunities. There seems to be no limit to the things that they can do. And so much seems new. There are so many new experiences for them to enjoy.

The author’s purpose in this verse is to warn people - especially young people - about the judgement of God. God will be the judge of everything that people do (Ecclesiastes 12:14). People can follow their emotions and desires, but God will be their judge.

That is a severe message. We can do whatever our hearts desire. And we can do whatever tempts us. But in all these things, God will be our judge.

We already can see what God’s judgement must be about these things. We know that our desires are evil. We know how many wrong things we do. We often neglect to obey God’s law. We often choose to do evil things. Everyone is guilty when God is the judge (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23).

So, the author is not advising people to follow their own desires. In fact, he is warning people that they must not follow their own desires. You can see the author’s actual advice in Ecclesiastes 12:1. It is that people must think about their relationship with God. He explains that advice in Ecclesiastes 12:13. God has given his commands in order to teach people how to have a relationship with him.

Of course, nobody can obey God’s commands perfectly. So by his commands, people learn that they must trust God completely. That is the kind of relationship with God that Abraham knew because of God’s promises to him (Romans 4:3). And we can know it too, because of Christ’s death (Romans 4:23-25).

Next part: Is there any advantage to be young and strong? (Ecclesiastes 11:10)

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© 2019, Keith Simons.