Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.
– Ecc 12:1
“Remember now thy Creator…”
Let us pause for a moment to consider these powerful words from a man who had it all, and who had seen it all. Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived until the coming of Jesus, and his wealth and influence could hardly be quantified. In rounding off the book of wisdom (Ecclesiastes), his final admonitions began with the words before us: “Remember now thy Creator…” It is amazing that man has to be instructed to ‘remember’ his own Creator. A broad reading of Scripture reveals that man is often pre-occupied with the challenges and troubles of day-to-day life without asking questions about their Creator (Job. 35:9-14, Isa. 51:13). We are often concerned about how to meet our needs, solve our problems, improve our living conditions, and so on. And this seems very understandable. However, attempts to make meaning of our lives without seeking God often results in frustrated efforts. Nothing on earth happens without the knowledge of God. So our first priority should always be to look to God for help; doing this does not in any way undermine our intelligence or ability to solve problems. What it does is to re-assure our hearts and provide us a divine perspective (or solution) on the problems we are seeking to solve. The Bible records in Psalm 73 how one man complained bitterly of his lot in life: how wickedness paid off and righteous living was such a waste of time. He went on and on, until he sought God and he received a divine perspective on the natural things he saw (Ps. 73:17). Things are not always the way they seem, and the ability to understand the end of a thing from its beginning causes us to fret less about our situations in life, and instead to focus our energy on productive living. So God’s message to us today, as before, is to “remember now (our) Creator”. It is interesting to note that the instruction is in the present, not in the past, or in the future. It is not an item for our to-do list tomorrow, but an instruction with a sense of immediacy. Neither is it an accusation berating us of our failure to remember Him in the past. We must remember Him, and we must remember Him now. It is an abiding instruction, an enduring counsel at every point in our lives. We may not feel we need God, or we may feel God is only a cure for the mediocre or the religious mind. But God Himself insists on His supremacy and primacy in the affairs of men (Dan. 4:17, Psa. 75:7), and He must be sought as such. Dear friends, we will do well today to remember now our Creator, for we all proceed from Him, and to Him we must return. Stay blessed!
