Ecclesiastes 12:1 KJV
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 verse ties closely with Ecclesiastes 11:9-10
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the
days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of
thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into
judgment.
Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy
flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
The preacher
finishes this book by reminding all, especially the young man, that years pass
on and old age is coming more quickly than he can possibly imagine. There comes
a day when the sensory pleasures of life fail us:
- We cannot see the beauties of creation
- We cannot hear the melodies of music
- We cannot taste the delicacies of dishes
- We cannot smell the aromas of fragrances
The senses all but
leave us as age overtakes us. The pleasures that are such a powerful draw to
the youth have no meaning to us in old age. It is then that a man finds
pleasure in two courses of thought:
In what the future
holds
Heaven and the
pleasure of Christ's company become more meaningful daily as we approach what
we know to be our end in this life.
In what the memory
recalls
Events, occasions
and the relationships of years gone by become treasures in the memory as we
bring them to mind in conversation, contemplation and re-creation in photos and
film.
Unless of course
youth was wasted in wantonness and sin. In this case there is no heaven to look
forward to but "…a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation"[1]. Neither is there much to look back upon but a trail
of rubble and brokenness.
The young person is
the one who needs most to reflect on the coming of age. It is in youth, the younger
the better, a person most wisely chooses to fulfill the whole duty of man.
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