Ecclesiastes 12 REMEMBER NOW Every child and all old people, plus everyone in between, needs God in their lives. There are the same possibilities in a believing child to be filled with love for God as there is for old people. When you are young, you have the advantage of time to mature in the right ways of the Lord if you choose to. Learn early in life how to bless, not destroy. Use your powers of intellect and strength, and ability to build up not tear down. When old age comes, there are limitations that hinder and slow us down. If we are not careful, we can spend much of our time and thoughts focusing on ourselves rather than on things that count for eternity. Wasted years can’t be recovered, but it is also foolish for older people to think about what could have been rather than what is. Our comfort and satisfaction will come when we can help young people to “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” Diminishing change comes to older people that is just the opposite of growth into maturity of the young.
The Teacher called upon those who are young to remember their Creator and think ahead as he wrote in poetic form a description of old age. It is likely that what he wrote about was the encroachment of old age on body parts that become weak and worn out as old age imposes itself on us. The patterns of life we set when we are young will be solid in old age. The beauty of life around us fades somewhat as our physical assets fail. So, we can’t hear the beautiful sounds as well as we once did. We can’t see the glories around us or participate in life’s activities as we did in the past. Clouds come over our spirit as the joy of living is dulled and we sorrow when so many we knew pass on. Our enthusiasm for living slows down. Our hands (keepers) get weak and our knees (strong) get feeble and bent over. Our teeth (grinders) come out and don’t do the work they once did to help our digestion. Eyes (watchers) have shades come over them and our ears (doors) don’t hear very well. Our hair goes white and strength goes as we draw near to our “long home.”
Even though our silver cord bends over more and the golden bowl of our brain isn’t as sharp as it once was and the heart and blood-flow aren’t as effective as when we were younger, what we found our joy in when we were young, increases. The years of loving God and experiencing His grace and mercy, all replay in our minds the goodness of God in the past. It is easy to remember well “all the way by which He led me.” By contrast, things that just happened are quickly forgotten because they don’t seem as important.
A life lived without God can result in a lonely, hopeless and bitter old age. When life is centered on God from youth, and has been fulfilling through the years because of our faith in Him, it is satisfying in old age. The “days of trouble” will not be overwhelming even if they bring sickness and body limitations and we are brought to a physical standstill. All the list of things that diminish will not cause grief to one who remembered their Creator in the days of their youth.
To start out life right with faith in God, and daily living to please Him through the years, makes old age a joy as we go back down “memory lane” and think about the “goodness and mercy” that has followed us all the days of our life. One can sit in a rocking chair right next to death’s door and find joy in God because we have lived a lifetime in that joy. Old people can’t serve God in the same way as they did in the past because their faculties don’t work right. When our physical assets have broken down, we are still able to serve our Lord in our “bodies and spirits” what are His – particularly in our spirit. It is with that we spend our days in worship and remembrance.
When a person is young, life can be very exciting because there are so many new things opening up before us. But a potential problem for Christian young people is if they seek their excitement in pleasure instead of things that count for eternity. Strength that is used for things that really last, give the greatest pleasure and the kind of excitement that remains with us for a lifetime. Even old people get excited when they hear of souls being saved and young people committed to living for the Lord. The patterns of living we set up when we are young for good or bad, polarize as we get older and solidify when we get into old age. It is a matter of utmost importance for young people to “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” Seek God now, and commit yourself to living for Him by faith through your whole life.
Poetry as in chapter eleven and the first eight verses of chapter twelve, create an impression that affects our emotions, more than giving precise information to establish doctrine in our minds. The teacher must have been older when he wrote this poem regarding the attitude and feelings of one coming to the end of life. He looked at the difficulties of aging as a storm that obscures the light. It was like a house that is deteriorating and getting beyond repair. He sensed a gradual decay and decline that couldn’t be stopped. Normal physical faculties gradually fail, white hair, physical weakness and normal interest in the things of life around went away as he looked to his “long home.”
We must put God first early in life or else we will have lived our whole life with nothing to show for it that will last beyond the grave. At death the body goes back to the dust from which it was created. The spirit that makes mankind aware of God returns to God. The decisions we make in life will not be changed after we die. The soul that has been saved goes to be with Christ when it is “absent from the body and present with the Lord.” The soul that has rejected God’s grace and is not saved, will be in hell. The summation of life if a person thinks the grave is the end of our existence is again repeated as, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” How sad a meaningless life is when it is summed up as, “Meaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless.”
Much of life and all that it holds is beyond our understanding, but God does know it all. There is very little, if anything over which we have more than a very limited control. Much of what happened to us in the past remains a mystery when it comes to the “whys and wherefores” of life. But there is no reason for us to despair over the “what ifs” of life when we know the Lord personally. Payday hasn’t come yet. The Shepherd of our life is God Himself. From Him comes the wisdom, the care and the direction of life for us. We just need to listen to and heed the words He gives that pricks us like a goad and points us in the right direction. By applying what we read and learn from the Bible, our lives and future are directed by Him. We don’t dare add to them or take away from them. Nor should we pay a whole lot of attention to all the strange ideas people put in books.
We can enjoy life from youth to old age. We can have real meaning to our existence here when we fear God and do what He says. He knows everything I think and do. So, it is my wisdom to seek to be like my Lord here, and trust Him without question or demanding answers for my eternal future. I can confidently leave that to Him. Any effort to live a meaningful life without God is futile. God needs to come first when I am young, and all through life. He has provided all I need to live so I can please Him. He who knows and judges both good and bad in life will be the One who judges all of my life’s activities, attitudes and motives.