AP

Ecclesiastes 12:1   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”.

The ‘Preacher’ (Hebrew ‘qohelet’) – ‘Solomon’ (?) – is drawing to a conclusion his discussion about the futility of life on earth if we make the fundamental error of leaving the Creator God out of our reasoning.  I was born at the beginning of WWII and grew up in the post-war years when most Australians had been praying hard for peace, were thankful to God for the way so many young men and women had made such a significant sacrifice to defend our peace, and were committed to go on remembering them, “Lest We Forget”.

They were years when most children were either taken, or just sent, to Sunday School, and our society in general was happy to acknowledge the reality of the existence of God even if many (most?) of its citizens were happy to live their lives without worrying too much about him!  Similarly to WWI, probably, most of the young men who responded to the call to serve their country were not really expecting to die or to suffer permanent debilitating affliction in the process, and were not expecting the conflict(s) to last as long as they did. I sometimes wonder, if they could see the direction our society has taken in the period of ‘peace’ they won for us, whether they would think it was worth the sacrifice they made.

With God’s wisdom (of which he wrote at great length in Proverbs, and which he summed up in the phrase “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” – Proverbs 9:10), this wise King could see what happens to a whole society when the Creator God is ignored and his Word is opposed.  So it is with urgency that he advises those who come after him: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.”

As we have the opportunity and the privilege of influencing the lives of young people in a significant way, and as we experience the truth of Solomon’s warning about what happens when God is ignored and his Word rejected, let us take our responsibility seriously and make sure that, on a daily basis, the example of our lives (behaviour, attitude, etc) and the words of our lips, consistently and continually show that we remember our Creator.  ‘Lest we forget’!
– Bruce Christian