Ecclesiastes 12:1-14
Do No Forget Your Creator
1 Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”—
2 before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
3 when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;
4 when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;
5 when people are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags itself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.
6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Everything is meaningless!”
The Conclusion of the Matter
9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon questions the meaning of life...And in his text we read meaningless!...meaningless!...Utterly meaningless!...Everything is meaningless...But in the end the author tells us to remember our Creator while we are young, before the bad times come—before the years come when we say, “I have wasted my life.”...Remember our Creator while we are young, before the time comes when the sun and the moon and the stars become dark to us—before problems come again and again like one storm after another...At that time our arms will lose much of their strength...Our legs will become weak and unbalanced...Our teeth will fall out, and we will not be able to chew your food...Our eyes will not see as clearly as they used to...We will become hard of hearing...We will not hear the noise in the streets or the things around us clearly...Even the stone grinding of grain will seem quiet to us...We will not be able to hear the women singing...But even the sound of a bird singing will wake you early in the morning because some will have trouble sleeping as they age...We will be afraid of high places...We will be afraid of tripping and falling over every small thing in our path...Our hair will become white like the flowers on an almond tree...We will drag ourselves along like a grasshopper when we walk...We will lose our desire, and then it will be time to go to our eternal home...The mourners will gather in the streets as they carry our body to the grave...Remember our Creator while we are young, before the silver rope snaps and the golden bowl is crushed like a jar broken at the well, like a stone cover on a well that breaks and falls in...Our body came from the earth...And when we die, it will return to the earth...But our Spirit came from God, and when we die, we will return to Him...
The Prophet Isaiah gives us hope in these things when he writes: Do you not know?...Have you not heard?...The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth...He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom...He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak...Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength...They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint...
So as Isaiah reminds us let us also remember that old age can be challenging but our latter years can be happy, fulfilling, and some of the best times of our our lives, and closer to our Father...
As we read these saddened verses, the question to this and the meaningless of life and to the answer to the aging process, we are given the answer...There is One who teaches and tells us: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest...Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I AM gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls...For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”...Jesus is indeed the answer...