Remember Thy Creator (3)

Dear young people,

Still considering Ecclesiastes 12, we continue with the end of verse five, "Because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets." Remember, Solomon tells us that man—you and I—goes to his long home. That long home is our eternal home. That is the grave. The mourners shall go about the streets when they carry your remains to the cemetery. This means you are going to eternity, for that is our long home, our eternal destination. In the light of that never-ending eternity, what does it differ if we live here fifteen years, twenty years, or ninety years? Only remember, we are already standing with one foot in the grave.

We must understand verses six and seven in the light of death and eternity. First Solomon spoke about the symptoms of old age and advancing weaknesses. Now he describes the marks of dying. There is a gradual wasting away, even for the very strongest. But then comes the final struggle: life is ending, vital parts are broken down, the time of death arrives. None is able to turn back that solemn moment.

The wondrous bond between soul and body is broken, the bond between the dust and the spirit. The silver cord is loosed, the golden bowl broken, the pitcher broken at the fountain, the wheel broken at the cistern. The picture Solomon uses here is of drawing water from a well or cistern. In various ways this can come to an end.

As far as our body is concerned, we can think of the silver cord as the spinal cord sending messages from the brain to the rest of the body and the other way around; but the nervous system fails, it no longer functions. We can view the golden bowl as the brain in its protective skull or membrane; but it cannot do its task as before. We can consider the pitcher and fountain as the heart sending blood through the arteries and veins; but, again, these stop working. We can take the wheel and cistern as the continual breathing and pumping of the lungs; but, once more, this comes to a halt.

When death draws nigh, how labored is the breathing, a gasp yet for the last breath, still another heartbeat, until finally the end comes. Or else there is a slow fading away of the last vital signs, a slipping away into eternity.

Young friends, did you ever stand at a deathbed? Possibly you witnessed how someone died, a loved one perhaps. What a solemn moment that was; you never forgot it, because that person stepped across the threshold into eternity. What if that had been you? How have you spent your strength? How will you die? Remember now thy Creator.

"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Body and soul are then separated. Our body will be laid in the dust, while our soul immediately returns to God, to our Creator, who is also our Judge. After all, God is the God of the spirits of all flesh.

Young people, what is our life? What is old age? They are evil days, are they not? Shall you remember that? Abraham spoke of dying in a good old age. His dying day became his best day, because the evil days of sin had become good days of grace, also when he grew old. Young people, can you testify the same? Oh, remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Do not believe the lie that youth is for pleasure. Do not fall into that snare that age is for business. Do not postpone the one thing needful as if old age is for religion.

Can the Lord not convert you when you are old? He certainly is able, for He is almighty. But the older we become, the colder we become, the more evil are the days for seeking the Lord.

Is it impossible, then, to be converted once you have become old? Ah, if there are older friends who also read this, let me say to you that the Lord is able to save to the uttermost. Just consider the thief on the cross. "Lord, remember me," was his petition. I do not read that you are forbidden to remember your Creator in the days of your old age. Rather, your need is so much greater. May the Lord be pleased to bind it upon your heart to make haste for your life's sake. What remains true, however, is that the days of our youth are the best times to remember our Creator.

Go with me to the Scriptures one more time, young people, and consider precisely that blessing of tenderly fearing the Lord when still young. Then I hear a poet singing. He is an old poet already, but still he sings.

For from my early youth, O God,
By Thee I have heen taught,
And faithfully have I declared
The wonders Thou hast wrought.

What were those wonders, David? Which wonders did the Lord work in you?

The Lord remembered me when I did not remember Him. I learned to die before I had to die. I was given to remember my Creator; I came to know God and myself, but also His Son. And to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, His Son, is life eternal. Oh, that is an eternal wonder.

Then David takes up his harp once more, and as his old fingers pluck the strings, he prays:

O gracious God, forsake me not
When I am old and gray,
That unto those that follow me
I may Thy might display.

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