WHY MANY SUFFER AT OLD AGE

Text:

Number 8: 23-26

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more: But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.”

Psalm 90:16-17

“Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”

Psalm 92:12-14

“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;”

Proverbs 13:22

“A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.”

From the passages we have read, we see that even the Levites had a time they worked actively in the house of God. They also had a time they would stop active service; they will now be doing things that are not very stressful. That is, they will retire, why? There is a time were a person cannot perform duty anymore. The question is this; why do so many suffer at old age?

1.       Neglecting God in their youthful age. Ecclesiastes 12:1-4 says; “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; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,”

A time comes when a person will not be able to do anything. We are advised from that passage to remember our creator when we are still very young. Many at their youthful age, neglect God. They don’t want to know anything about God. They want to live their life riotously. They call it ‘enjoyment’ so when old age comes, those things that they could not do will begin to come before them plainly.

2.       Planlessness and lack of vision: Many do not plan. Anything they see, they finish it. Some have plans in life but they do not pursue their plans.

3.       Lack of investment or bad investment: some people invest but in things that cannot work or yield good profit. Recently a man called me.  He told me he had just retired and someone advised him to go into cocoa planting in Ibadan with his retirement benefit. He called me to seek for my advice. I told him that cocoa planting was not something he can do as a retiree because it will take up to 5 years for the cocoa he intends to plant to yield fruits if it is the ‘agric’ seedling. I advise him not to go into such investment with his retirement benefit.

4.       Lack of savings: Many people do not save. I remember a man who was asked to open a savings account and save his money. He said no that the bank will use his money for their businesses. He preferred ‘chopping it’ (spending his money on himself). He does not know the benefit of savings.

5.       Laziness: So many are lazy and therefore when they get to old age, their strength is worn out. They cannot do the things they should have done when they were young.

6.       Extravagant living and wastage: one of our brothers worked with foreign affairs commission. In foreign affairs, they post people out of the country and they pay them in dollars. By paying them in dollars, they are able to save so much money. By saving, they could have good money even in two years. People prayed for such posting. This brother started praying that God should send him there.  God answered his prayer and he was taken to one of the ‘big’ countries. Over there, the ambassador who was his boss will buy a big car, after one week, the brother will buy that type of car. He was competing with his boss. Four years after, they were to come back home. He came back the same way he went there without anything. He lived a life of wastage and extravagance. At your youthful days, when you begin to live an extravagant life, it has as a toll at your old age.  What are you doing now towards your old age? Are you still drinking and partying? Somebody had a child. He was to dedicate the child. He invited everybody from the village. There were more than 20 people and paid their transport fare because he had a male child. Even though he had female children, but because his wife gave birth to a male child, he imported 20 people from his village. The environment where he lives, he invited about 500 people because he had a male child at age 50. He did a big party. That kind of money spent on everything is wastage because those people, some of them were talking to him there wondering why he was spending such.
I heard a story of a man, when his mother died, people came for the funeral and they went to the grave yard for the interment. They were expecting reception after the burial but he return to them and said ‘thank you very much, God bless you. That's the end of the burial’. They asked for entertainment and he answered them ‘how can I lost my mother and lost my money again? So many suffer at old age because of wastage.

7.       Mismanagement of opportunities: an opportunity will always come to the life of a man once and for all. When that opportunity is mismanaged, that might be all. Opportunity seldom comes twice. Many are lucky and fortunate that opportunity will come their way again. Just like I was saying, if you see anybody saying ‘if I had known’ meaning that there are some things he/she did not do well. The question is; what opportunity do you have now and you are toying with it? Money is rolling in now and you have many friends around you saying lend me ten thousand, borrow me five thousand.  Many friends will be trooping to the house of a fool, why? They see free money to waste. Let the money finish and you will not see them again. That is mismanagement of opportunity

8.       No multiple source of income or low multiple source of income: let me tell you sincerely, very few sources of income as ‘salary’ can make a person rich in life. There are salaries that can make one rich for those working in the oil companies but for a civil servant, except he steals the money.  Therefore he needs another source of income if not; he will get to old age and be telling stories to his children.

9.       Lack of retirement plan. Many people do not make plans for retirement. Life can never continue the way it is now after retirement if there is no good retirement plan. A time is coming were that seat will be taken away from you. Therefore you must plan in case you leave that place you will have what to fall back on. I pray you will not regret your life in the name of Jesus.

How do I plan for my retirement?

What you are reading here, God is deliberately speaking to somebody.  A man, after retirement went and married a new wife. The gratuity he was receiving was thirty five thousand naira per month. He still went and married a new wife. If he had married and elderly person of his age it would have been different but at 60, he went and married a woman of 35years. That year, his new wife got pregnant and gave birth to twins. How will he care for them with 35 thousand naira?  So one must be able to plan for his retirement. If after retirement you start having children, how will you raise those children? 

So you must plan for your retirement. How do you do that?

1.       Invest in your retirement; invest ahead of your retirement. Your children are not retirement investment. Your in-laws, uncles and relatives are not dependable when you retire. Everybody has his/her own problem. So don’t invest in your children and expect them to feed you when you retire. Many have died because the children the depended on could not meet their needs after they retire. So you need to invest in your retirement and on your own, plan for your retirement. Don’t depend on your children.  On your own plan for your retirement. Start planning for retirement now.

2.        Start a hobby: start doing something during your leave or vacation. During your leave/vacation, you can go and learn something like a trade. You can begin to do poultry business, small farming or run a small shop. Have a hobby that when you retire you can go back to so that you can have something to rely on after retirement. What you do not practice now, when you retire and begin to practice it, will result to failure. So constant practice of a business now, by the time you are retiring, it has become part and parcel of your life.
Acquire marketable skills. Nothing is bad if you start learning how to sew as a woman. Nothing is bad if you start learning how to bake bread. Nothing is bad if you start knowing how to barber and when you grow and retire; you create a nice barbing salon, employ some boys there and sit down there collecting your receipt.  The boys could work for you for monthly payment or on commission basis.  You need to learn all these when you are still at work before you retire.

3.       Plan where to retire. That is, if God blesses you build yourself a home. Plan where to retire. Don’t retire and start building, don’t retire and be paying rent because very soon you will become a problem to the landlord. Start building for your retirement.  It is bad when you retire and you are still renting accommodation so plan where to retire. When you retire, except you have a place to stay or except you can afford it, it is better to leave the city so that it does not put pressure on you. The city is expensive to live after retirement. In the local area, it is still better so plan where to retire. I am not saying you should go and stay in the village but if you can afford staying in the city, there is no problem. When you retire, your income will be more minimal so if you want to still living on what you are living on now, the person will suffer. 

4.       Plan for your dependence: by the time you are retiring, if you really want to live a long and suitable life, your last dependence must be either 18 year or above that can take care of himself/herself. Plan for your dependence. Ensure that you push them to where they are supposed to be so that when you start earning that small gratuity, you can live well. It is very wrong for you to have train a child to a level and he or she is now based in Lagos and will now bring his or her children to come and live with you. While your own child is enjoying over there, he or she will be sending 20 thousand to you every month. The aged mother will be the one to take full responsibility of the children while the parent is enjoying his/her life. Your child has enjoyed you once and is enjoying you the second time. You have nurtured him to that level, now his own child which he is supposed to nurture; he is still bringing them to you. It is not right. You cannot sleep again because of your grandchildren. I am not saying you should not help your children but there must be a plan for that. How can your child be sending 20 thousand for the up keep of 4 children? The person will die suddenly. So plan for your dependence.

5.       Leave a simple life after retirement. Don’t start buying big cart at retirement except it is very necessary and it is not supposed to be an expensive car. It could be a car you use for business or to run around, it shouldn't be an expensive car. When you start buying big cars like Prado and say; ‘yes the work of God is like a miracle’. To service a Prado, you take it to a service center. The machines there will check your car and give you a bill which is not negotiable. So when you retire, buy a small car because big cars will consume big money.  If you are unfortunate as you are driving the car it give you a sign in the dashboard saying it can’t move again then you are in trouble. N35000 gratuity you receive every month will not solve it.

6.        Have properties that can be rented out.  Buy shares and equipment that you can lease out. Buy things that people can hire and it can be revolving money in your hand. Don’t start building with your retirement benefit, you might not finish it and the money finishes.  So don't start building with your retirement money

7.       Lastly, have your day of retirement in mind. Remember that you are going to retire one day.  Always have it at the back of your mind that ‘I'm going to retire one day’. Always have it at the back of your mind that a day is coming you will not be able to do some things again. That time your influence will reduce. Now you are going to the office and everyone is saying ‘good morning sir, good morning sir.’ The day you retire, that greetings will reduce. Have that at the back of your mind. Now when your staff sees you, they run up and down to see what they can do to impress you. At retirement it will end. Your office power and influence will no longer be there. So will your income reduce.  Your friends will also reduce. Loneliness will set in. So you need to have all these at the back of your mind.

Why do people die suddenly after retirement?

 Let’s talk about why some people die suddenly after retirement

1.       Lack of preparation for retirement: they don’t know how thing will play out after retirement because they did not prepare for retirement. In a particular administration in this country, some people were suddenly retrenched because they did not have a certain certificate. Some of them had 15 years, 10 years etc to retire. A lot of them were dying of different ailment because they did not plan for that.

2.       Lack of finance: at this stage there is no money again to do what they like. No money to fulfill some promises.  

3.       Worries, anxiety and uncertainty: anxiety and worries over a lot of issues like; my children are not sending any money, my friends has left me and a lot more. These are the kind of thing you will see in the life of such a person. Anxiety, worries and uncertainty; he does not even know where the next food will come from. Sometime sicknesses they don't know is in their body will suddenly wake up.  According to science, at 50 some sicknesses will begin to come into a person’s life and if the person is not careful he or she may die of such sickness.  When there is no money, to take care of the person, the person will die. A  diabetic person needs more money to take care of himself/herself than when the person is healthy because when diabetics comes, the persons food will change, the person will also spend money on drugs.  If you are 50 and you are still taking two bottles of coca cola, you are looking for trouble. Once you are 50 years, there are some foods you should not take again. Careless living will make life hard after retirement.

4.       Also, why people died suddenly is because of sicknesses that suddenly rise up at retirement. Don’t take thing for granted. Ensure you adequate care for yourself. At a particular age, your food must change. If you don't change that food, that food will change you.

5.       What again causes sudden death at retirement? Loneliness. People tend to follow someone they can get something from him/her and when they tell you that you are their friends, let money finish in your pocket and you'll know who your friends are. One of the problems of those who retire is loneliness. They are abandoned. People don't come to them again because there is nothing to gain from them. Their notes cannot carry weight anymore.

6.       Lastly lack of care: nobody is caring for you again. All those gifts you use to receive in the office, once you retire, it will stop. So all the gifts, money you are seeing now and you are not making good use of it, might be very difficult to come by after retirement. You must plan for your retirement in life. It does not matter what business you are doing, a time come were you will not be able to do it anymore. Think of what you need to correct now so that your life could be profitable at retirement.  Bow you head and talk to God. Asked God to teach you what to do now so that you do not retire into emptiness.  

Prayers.

Powers that want me to regret my life, die in the name of Jesus.
Engineers of poverty in my life, die in the name of Jesus.
Holy Spirit of God, guide my life into prosperity in the name of Jesus.
Prosperity that will make me flourish at old age, fall upon me now in the name of Jesus.
In my life, I shall not beg to eat. My God shall bless me abundantly.