Remember Your Creator

Solomon wrote: Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). The evil days that Solomon refers to in this passage seem to be the days when we grow old. In the next few verses Solomon makes analogies to the running down of the human body at the end of a long life.

There is coming a day, if the Lord postpones His return and we live long enough, when each one of us is going to understand the truth of this passage better than we do right now. Some who are reading this already understand it better than some others. Sometimes it is hard to be upbeat, positive and happy when your whole body hurts. You look in the mirror in the morning and wonder why you have to suffer the way you do. Some people hurt so much that they seriously consider harming themselves (and some do); others blame God.

We have not spent a great deal of time in these notes talking about this kind of suffering, but it is just as real. When your body hurts and/or you just do not feel good, our enemy (the devil) finds it easier to plant doubt and discouragement in your mind. If you have not prepared yourself beforehand to withstand his attacks, it is harder to come up with the strength and will to do so when you are weak.

So, Solomon says do it now. A day is coming when your body will fail completely. It may be at the end of a long life or it may be because of some kind of accident or illness that threatens you “before your time.” Either way, you need to remember God now, before it is too late! Solomon says to remember Him “…before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:6, 7). In other words, remember God before you meet Him face to Face.

There is nothing I could possibly say that is more important than the way Solomon ends his book. Solomon tried very hard to teach something that would help people and we try very hard to do the same with these Barnabas Notes. Ecclesiastes 12:9-12: In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. There is no end to the good self-help books or articles that we can find. It is my prayer that these notes provide some comfort and encouragement. However, what all of us really need to do is pay attention to the One Shepherd Who is able to give us all the comfort we really need.

Ecclesiastes 12:13: The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. As you start another week of work, school or just life in general, you may be in pain, maybe extreme pain. The pain you suffer may be mental or it may be physical, but it’s real, isn’t it? The answer to your pain is found in the word of God. No, reading the Bible won’t necessarily make your arthritis stop hurting, but it will give you the strength you need to keep you from letting your physical (or mental) pain separate you from the God Who loves you enough to promise you an end to all suffering if you will just submit yourself to Him. You have the words of life because God loves you and I want you to know that I love you, too.