Ecclesiastes 12 Devotional
By Pastor Lawrence

Concluding his bleak evaluation of all things done under the sun, Solomon exhorts his son to remember his creator in the days of his youth, for there is a tendency of younger people to anticipate and assume all the joys of the future while disregarding the inevitable challenges of aging and death. So, Solomon gives him a glimpse of what it will be like describing the aging process in the winter season of life with diminishing physical abilities and ever-diminishing returns in regards to earthly pleasure and delight. He uses the imagery of a dilapidated house to represent the body’s deterioration over time, with trembling arms, weakened legs, failing teeth, dimmed eyesight, and reduced hearing. He then encapsulates the perspective of an elderly generation with the continual fear of falling and the increased anxiety over one’s own mortality until finally the pitcher of the body is broken with the dust returning to the ground and the spirit returning to God who gave it.

In light of this impending weakness and the certainty of death, Solomon points his son to remember his Creator now, not only to acknowledge God’s right and sovereignty over his life but in order to find wisdom, strength and true meaning in this transient world cursed because of sin. And he warns him not to study overmuch thinking that maybe he will find a deeper truth than the one that has just been presented to him. He then says plainly, “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

And it’s important to understand that this teaching has not changed with the coming of Christ in the New Testament. We are still called to fear God and keep his commandments as believers today. The only difference is: we now know the name of God’s Son who has kept God’s laws perfectly in our behalf, and the power of the Spirit that motivates and enables us to keep God’s law ourselves; thus, we aren’t merely to remember our Creator, but also our Redeemer and the Sanctifier of our souls. It is only as we learn to fear and love the three-personed God that we can gain true wisdom beyond our years.