Ecclesiastes 12:1

"Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them";"Remember also your Creator" -In addition to remembering that you must eventually stand before God in judgment (Ecclesiastes 11:9), remember that it is God who created you in the first place. This is. powerful thought! 1. Seeing that God created me, God then must know what will truly make me happy. Therefore,. can submit to His will cheerfully and have the confidence in knowing that the path of obedience is the best path for me.. will only find my true potential when. fully submit to His will. 2. Being my Creator, such gives God the moral right to expect obedience from me. In fact, disobedience and rebellion are acts committed by ungrateful people. And who wants to act like. spoiled and ungrateful child? Yuk!

Points To Note:

2 "Let your mind be turned to your Maker" (Bas). To remember God includes dropping any kind of arrogant self-sufficiency and committing ourselves to Him. 2. "Your Creator": Yes, God is the Creator of all. 3. "Remember" certainly implies more than to recall that there is. Creator. It surely means to let that remembrance shape conduct, for He is to be remembered as 'Creator'. As such, being the Author of our being, He has complete and absolute claims upon us (including our talents, time, and prosperity) these we should acknowledge by our surrender to Him" (Leupold p. 273). 4. When we obey God, we are really only giving to Him what rightfully belongs to Him in the first place (Acts 17:26-27; Luke 17:7-10). "The command 'Remember your Creator' means to revere God, to keep His laws faithfully, to serve Him responsibly, remembering that because He created people, everyone owes Him his life….the meaning of the verb 'remember' in Deut. Ecclesiastes 8:18 and Psalms 119:55 is parallel to keeping the Law, in Judges 8:34 it is contrasted with self-reliance and worship of other gods" (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 1004).

"in the days of your youth" -"days of your strength" (Bas); "in the days of thy vigor" (Rhm). 'Youth' certainly includes more than just childhood or the teenage years. For there are many people who remember God in those years but they forget Him in their 20's, 30's and 40's.

Points To Note:

3 Youth has the habit of demanding 'rights', resisting and questioning rightful authority, including God's authority. 2. There is also the great temptation to concentrate on earthly goals when one is young. Often, getting ahead in. career, amassing physical possessions, and the quest for recreation and getting away so we can undo all the damage caused by the previous wrong priorities, take young people away from God. 3. Young people, and. am also talking to people in their 20's, 30's and 40's, need to remember that all they are and all they have is due to the fact that there is. God. 5. The days of strength and vigor are also days in which you can really accomplish something for God, the days in which we can be busily involved in spreading the gospel, going good deeds, etc…(Titus 2:14). 6. Youth is also an ideal time to commit ourselves fully to God: Youth is the time when self-surrender is still possible, but. life lived for self can harden the heart. God is not impressed by the person who is trying to live as much for self until the possible last moment. 7. Will we squander the days of our strength? We will spend most of our time, money and talents on earthly goals or vain pursuits? Or will we give God the best of our youth? Listen to the following passage:

"May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if. do not remember you, if. do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy"

(Psalms 137:6)"before the evil days come and the years draw nigh" -"Days of discomfort" (Rhm); "Troubling days come" (Ber); "The time of trouble comes" (NEB). In the context, these days include the days of old age, days that will be filled with aches and pains and failure of physical and mental strength. The final crippling stages of old age.

"when you will say, "I have no delight in them" -"I do not enjoy them" (Ber); "I see no purpose in them" (NEB). "Them"-i.e. the days of advanced old age. "Means that such closing years of life have lost the pleasure of youth and the prime of life" (Kidwell p. 274). See 2 Samuel 19:35 "Can. distinguish between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what. eat or what. drink?…") Old age is really devastating to the person who never placed their confidence in God, who has all their eggs in this earthly basket.

Points To Note:

4 Especially, if one hasn't chosen to serve God, the supposed "golden years" can turn out to be very depressing. 2. People in our world, especially the baby-boomer generation just assumes that their retirement years will mean--- just that much more time they can spend pleasing themselves. But such years can bring disease, illnesses and financial hardship. The person who has not remembered God and served Him while young, is faced with many regrets. He or she might want to serve God now, but they are greatly limited in what they can do for Him. 3. Our happiness in old age is directly linked with the type of life we have lived while young. One cannot be. miserable and selfish child, teenager, 20,30,40, etc., year-old and then expect to enjoy the final years of your life on earth.

What We All Will Face"The following metaphors all describe the deterioration of the body as old age comes on" (Garrett p. 341).

Not only does all work cease in the grave (Ecc. Ecclesiastes 9:10), but our productiveness might end. good number of years prior to our actual death. You might live to be 80, but for how long will you able to remain productive? How long really do you have to serve God effectively?