Morning Thoughts Ecclesiastes 12 |
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Elder
Phillip N. Conley |
Ecclesiastes
12:1, "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;"
This morning,
the world praises youth and its vitality, beauty, and
perceived innocence. While there are quite a few benefits to
youth, there are also drawbacks as well. Wisdom generally
comes with age, and energy generally comes from youth. On
counts such as these, we can see the pros and cons of both
groups. However, what the world praises about beauty stands
in stark contrast to Solomon's declaration and command. To
understand Solomon's command, we must also shun the world's
praise. When the youth revel in the world's praise of them,
they will never come to the proper point of doing what
Solomon commands. What does the world say? Live life, have
fun, do your thing, and enjoy it while it lasts. Seems that
today I meet quite a number of adults that try to live
vicariously through the youth of their children. While
trying to satisfy their own longing for youthful pleasure,
they compound the problem by setting their children up for
the same heartache of the aged that they now feel.
When reading books like Ecclesiastes, we must keep in mind
what glasses we should read it with. For example, I would
not attempt to read the book of Jeremiah expecting to find
an account of joyful seasons in serving the Lord. Nor would
I read the book of Song of Solomon expecting to find
declarations of God's judgment for disobedience. Likewise,
we should not read the book of Ecclesiastes expecting a long
discourse about life after death. The reason we should not
expect such is because Solomon writes this book with the
express purpose of showing the mindset of life "under the
sun." (Chapter 1) Indeed, Solomon had joyful seasons as Song
of Solomon shows, but this book shows the heartache of life,
his experience with vanity, and the ultimate end of such a
thought. Keeping this in mind, we should approach this
book's thoughts on death with the understanding that they
are intentionally penned with a short-sighted perspective.
Solomon had not failed to believe in life after death -
Ecclesiastes 12:7 shows that - but he shows vividly that
man's "naturalness" despises death and oftentimes thinks of
it with myopic vision. The expressions "all is vanity,"
"vanity of vanities," "vanity and vexation of spirit" occur
repeatedly throughout this short (12 chapter) book. If not
mistaken, this book has 33 occurrences of expressions with
the word "vanity" contained in it. That is quite a hefty
percentage of this book considering its size, but that is
the ultimate conclusion of the "under the sun" perspective.
However, as the 11th chapter winds down and the 12th opens,
we see a major up look in Solomon.
In the first 11 chapters Solomon repeats a theme that
revolves around death. Death comes to all. Whether just or
unjust, young or old, rich or poor, or any other contrast we
could find, death comes to everyone. Solomon even gets to
the point of saying that the strongest do not always win a
battle nor do the swift always win a race. (Ecclesiastes
9:11) Death can come prematurely (from a natural
perspective) much like fish caught in a net. (Ecclesiastes
9:12) These thoughts build on like thoughts and principles
from chapters 5-8. After such a woeful discussion about the
certainty of death, the premature nature of it at times, the
cutting down of man's natural might and speed, what is
natural man's answer? If these things are going to come and
sometimes come faster than we think, what do we do?
"Under the sun" thinking says, "Well, then do it while
you're young. Enjoy it while you can." Solomon visits this
thought at the close of chapter 11. The last two verses of
the chapter describe the vanity of taking pleasure in youth
while it is available. Rather, the youth should put away
evil, heartache, and sorrow. The worst possible thing a
youth can do is enjoy it while it lasts, for his condition
when older will be the sad state of many today that bemoan
their lack of spirituality when younger in years; or worse,
by watching others enjoy what they did not.
The answer of life as to what we should do knowing that
death is coming, maybe prematurely, and our strength and
beauty will fail is to remember God. Solomon commands that
He, our Creator, be remembered in the days of our youth.
There are many reasons why, but the primary reason is
described in detail in the succeeding verses. Verses 2-7
give perhaps one of the most vivid descriptions of the
physical sorrows of old age. The keepers of the house shall
tremble - nervous system breaks down. Strong men shall bow
themselves - hunch over in later years. Grinders shall cease
- teeth begin to fall out. Those that look out of the
windows shall be darkened - eyesight begins to fail. Doors
are shut with the sound of the grinding being low - hearing
begins to fail. Rise at the sound of the bird - sleep
becomes restless. Be afraid of that which is high with fear
being in the way - become nervous and scared of even life's
smallest things. Almond tree shall flourish - hair turns
gray. Grasshopper shall be a burden - strength begins to
fail. Man goeth to his long sought home and the mourners go
about in the street - we die and have a funeral service.
Silver cord is loosed, golden bowl broken, pitcher broken at
the fountain, and wheel at the cistern - spinal cord
weakens, mind fails, loss of bladder and organ control.
While all of that is not a pretty picture or pleasant to
consider, what advantage is there of youth? The youth does
not have the physical ailments such as these to impede his
service to God. By keeping the Creator in mind while young
there is a vast well of physical reserve to serve God
without impediment. This does not let the aged "off the
hook" as it were, but it should certainly be a bold
encouragement to the young not to wait on God's service but
actively engage to the best of our abilities and the fulness
of talents that He has given.
Another good reason to remember Him while young is that
habits in youth follow us when older. Solomon encouraged
parents to bring their children up in the right way so that
their later years would be marked by this good habit of
Godly living. (Proverbs 22:6) It is a wonderful habit to
form that church service is not an optional activity. When I
was a boy, I never woke up on Sunday morning and said, "I
wonder if we're going to church today."
Many times my Saturdays also included church, but that was
never optional, and by habitual practice, my youth was spent
in much remembrance of God, which my older years are very
thankful for. Nor should our days while not in the house of
God wonder if prayer and study are optional. We should not
ask, "I wonder if I will pray and study today?" Rather, we
should joyfully and diligently make every day a good day for
prayer and study. Another point to youthful remembrance of
God besides the physical benefits and foundations of good
habits is that remembrance of Him while young can often be
the memories that we have the longest. Have you ever talked
with an older person that may not even have Alzheimer's
Disease, but had lived long enough that their memory had
"holes" in it? They were not senile but had just tacked a
lot of mileage on their odometer. What do they remember the
most? What recollections have the fondest place in their
memories and hearts? They remember the days of their youth,
and might forget about last week but can remember 50+ years
into the past. If these memories will stay with us the
longest, then we should definitely build them with good
stones of Godly remembrance. When the evil days of life
begin to set upon us when in our twilight years, may we have
fond thoughts of God and His mercies to draw from as vivid
and fresh benefits for those trying days.
Life "seems" too busy to focus on God and things of him many
times. The world can easily shut out the things of God for
days by occupying it with the cares and trials of life. May
our days dwell upon thoughts of Christ and things Divine -
remembering our Creator. One might say, "But I am now old."
Or they might say, "I didn't do this when I was younger, so
what do I think about now?" The wise man Solomon frittered
away much time in service to God, and we might even say that
"some" of his younger days were spent in idolatry. However,
he did not encourage the youth but lay down himself. Quite
often, I have seen some older people throw up their hands in
defeat saying, "Well, I waited too long. There's nothing I
can do now."
Notice that Solomon admonished his son later in this chapter
to take good heed to what he said. (Verse 12) But, Solomon
did not let himself off the hook either. Verse 9 shows that
the aged can display wisdom even if they were foolish in
their youth. So what happens if our youthful days are spent
in the pleasures of life, forsaking the thoughts of our
Creator? Do we lay down in defeat or expect our children to
follow our same destructive pattern? No, our wisdom comes by
setting good proverbs and thoughts in order for those coming
after us. May they still fall victim to similar things?
Possibly, but we should still not neglect our duty to serve
God no matter our age. Youthful abilities have their
benefits and aged wisdom is priceless. But whether young or
old, we should all fear God and keep His commandments, for
that is our whole duty while we live upon this plane under
the sun. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
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