Remember Now Thy Creator

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth”
(Ecclesiastes 12:1a).

My dear young friends,

As you stand at the beginning of a new year, it appears quite suitable that I should address a few words to you with respect to your position as God’s creatures, and as such, what you owe to Him. I should like to place at the head of my remarks the solemn and important words given by inspiration of God: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:1a).

They are a divine direction; therefore, they demand serious and strict attention, the most implicit obedience. Our being is of vast and undying importance, chiefly because of its relation to God. When “the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:6&7). The greatest and gravest sin man commits is the sin of unbelief; unbelief is forgetfulness of God. Therefore:

1. Remember that God is your Creator. In this respect, “He is not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” The science which would account for your being is a way that contradicts the account given in Genesis, is the opposition of science, falsely so called (see 1 Timothy 6:20).

2. Remember, also, God’s sovereign authority over you. “Man’s goings are of the LORD” (Proverbs 20:24). If any of you are thinking that you are your own to dispose of as you please, God grant that you may be brought to consider how He reproves you in His Word, “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there for a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15). If a change in your life seems necessary, if there appears a better prospect for you in another situation or town, seek, as God’s creatures, His guidance.

3. Remember that your Creator is God only wise. “O LORD, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches” (Psalm 104:24). “The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath He established the heavens” (Proverbs 3:19). There is doubtless an infinitely wise and good reason in Him for the darkest and most utterly confused circumstances of our short lives. “It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23b). His eyes are upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. Oh, it is a solemn thing to be under the penetrating gaze of God!

4. Remember His power. No earthly power can work so as to effect good or evil but as ordained or permitted by Almighty God. When He casts out devils, they must seek and obtain His permission to enter into a herd of swine. When thousands of people were far from their homes, and hungry, in their following Him, He multiplied a few loaves and fishes to appease their hunger. The devouring jaws of lions are locked by God when the safety of His beloved Daniel requires such a miracle. The consuming fire is converted into a pleasant ambient air for the refreshing of God’s noble professors. “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” To His own disciples He said, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

5. Remember the most righteous claims of God upon you. These are expressed in the book from which we have before quoted: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). What the commandments are, Jesus told a lawyer: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

Oh, but who can do this, that is, meet the divine claims? Only One could and did, even Immanuel. May you, my young friends, be taught by the Spirit what is your duty and your absolute inability and that your inability is part of your guilt; then may you be brought to know that the Lord Jesus obtained eternal redemption for you.

6. Remember God’s Word. It was given by inspiration of God; therefore, it is infallible and full of authority. Read it carefully; endeavor to walk according to its holy directions. Do not forget that the greatness of our beloved country is the result of national attention to the Bible. Oh, that the nation may return to its former regard for the sacred Book!

7. Remember that you must die and stand “before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone one may receive the things done in his body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

8. Remember there is a heaven and hell to receive men when they die. You may see these habitations spoken of in the Scriptures.

May the Lord cause you, my dear readers, to consider the above matters. The new year may bring many changes to you, some pleasing, some painful. It may bring one and the last change—even death. “It is appointed unto man once to die, and after death the judgment.”

God be with you, bless you in all His most wise and holy providence, and give you His grace if it please Him.

So prays your affectionate friend,
J.K. Popham

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen