Page 20 - Zion's Lamp 4-19

Ecclesiates 12 Elder Phillip N. Conley

Morning Thoughts

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 inno-
cence. 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 com-

mand. 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 set-
ting 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.

Zion’s Lamp

continues