ECCLESIASTES 12:1-6 – Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.”
THEME OF THE DAY: THE REALITIES OF OLD AGE. The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes needs to be published in a nice pocket edition for two reasons. First, it just might be a very good tool of evangelism. As we distribute gospel tracts and pocket versions of Ecclesiastes to the disillusioned and disenchanted sinner, the reader will be directed to why he or she is experiencing these things – the vanity of the world because of the sin in the world. Another reason why we need a pocket version of Ecclesiastes is for Christians to have easy access to be reminded, even as God’s children, of the vanity of the things in this world. And one of the vanities is alluded to in today’s scripture – the certainty of old age, all its challenges, and the missed opportunities in our younger age.
King Solomon starts with a command of warning concerning the “days of adversity.” Here is how Charles Spurgeon describes these days, “The commentary on these days of adversity is found in verses 2-6. These arms and hands of ours shake by reason of weakness. These limbs, these legs of ours, begin to bend under the weight they have to support. The teeth are gone The eyesight begins to fail. The old man sleeps very lightly; anything awakens him. He hides away from public business. The doors are shut in the streets. There is none of the courage of youth. Daring is gone – prudence, not to say cowardice – sits on the throne. The hair is white and gray, like the early peach or almond tree in the beginning of the year. A little trouble weighs the old man down. He has no energy now. The grasshopper is a burden. The circulation of the blood begins to fail, the heart grows weak. It will soon stop. The man’s career is nearly over.”
Sounds morbid, right? Nope. It is reality. That is what makes Ecclesiastes so “refreshingly uncomfortable.” It jolts us out of complacent and worldly Christianity which is actually no Christianity. And what King Solomon experienced in his old age was the realization of wasted opportunities in his younger age never to be regained.
It will be one of life’s greatest tragedies; to look back on life and realize we gave the best of our years when we were physically full of zeal, energy, and able to serve the Lord, His people, and His gospel but gave it all to worldly pleasures and pursuits. It will also be one of life’s greatest pleasures to realize, no matter how we may have wasted so many years and opportunities, the Lord’s mercies are new each day, and we may start fresh – today – The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23).
PRAYER: “Father, help me not waste the season of life when I may serve Your people and gospel with zeal and energy.”
QUOTE: “To waste our time of physical, emotional, and spiritual strength on worldly things and not eternal is so sad.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim