November 22, 2023
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Ecclesiastes? Here’s today’s reading:
Ecclesiastes 12 (NIV)
1 Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”—
2 before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;……Continue Reading
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV
6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,fn
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.
7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“All is vanity.”
Ecclesiastes 12; 2 Samuel 11-12
Solomon is again saying that all is meaningless. He would be wrong for when we walk with God nothing is meaningless. Whether we think it or not. Yet this man was considered the wisest man of his time. How far a man can fall when not walking in God`s wisdom and instead walking in sin. And yet this same person wrote Proverbs and the Song of Solomon. This makes me wonder the time frame of each of his books. Perhaps I will check out the time frames. In verse 9 there is a reference to him writing Proverbs. And in verse 10 that he sought out acceptable words. Words that were upright and true. But in the end is his conclusion that we are to fear God and keep His commandments. For God will judge every work, whether good or bad. He will know every secret thing. May God bless our walk with Him.
It is good to remember God at every stage of life, but doing so in our youth sets on a path to be established in truth and righteousness and thereby avoid the pitfalls that come to many in poor choices that are made. It is good to have God’s word established in our hearts so as we age and challenges of health and mind confront us, we will have the ability to trust God and not give into fear. And Solomon saves his wisest statement for the end…that the whole duty of man does boil down to fearing God and following His commands. But to me, that makes nothing meaningless!
Ecclesiastes 11-12
When I say to my children “been there, done that….don’t make my same mistakes” I her my own mother ringing in my ears saying those same words to me so many years ago! In youth we seem so stubborn to learn our lessons the hard way and make the same classic mistakes. As parents we want so much to impart enough wisdom that they will avoid them and sometimes it works and many times it does not. We must truly grab hold of the things of God and make our faith our own (especially younger people that hang on to the faith of someone else like parents) learn to obey God and follow Him and find the meaning of life this world is searching for which is to bring Glory to the One who sets us free from the meaningless!
Honor and respect God every day of our lives with understanding of his awesome power, and all-encompassing love, grace and mercy. For when it is time to depart from this world, we will want to know that it was not meaningless – it was well spent on the activities that were most important.