Read | Ecclesiastes 12:1–14
So remember your Creator in the days of your youth:
Before the days of adversity come,
and the years approach when you will say,
“I have no delight in them”;
before the sun and the light are darkened,
and the moon and the stars,
and the clouds return after the rain;
on the day when the guardians of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
the women who grind grain cease because they are few,
and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,
the doors at the street are shut
while the sound of the mill fades;
when one rises at the sound of a bird,
and all the daughters of song grow faint.
Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road;
the almond tree blossoms,
the grasshopper loses its spring,
and the caper berry has no effect;
for the mere mortal is headed to his eternal home,
and mourners will walk around in the street;
before the silver cord is snapped,
and the gold bowl is broken,
and the jar is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel is broken into the well;
and the dust returns to the earth as it once was,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile.”
In addition to the Teacher being a wise man, he constantly taught the people knowledge; he weighed, explored, and arranged many proverbs. The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and write words of truth accurately. The sayings of the wise are like cattle prods, and those from masters of collections are like firmly embedded nails. The sayings are given by one Shepherd.
But beyond these, my son, be warned: there is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body. When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
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What stands out to you about the final words from the teacher (Solomon) and the conclusion from the author of Ecclesiastes? How does that shape how we should think about the brokenness and seeming futility of the world, and how we live in response to that?
Focus
To prepare your heart and mind even further for today's sermon, the Story of Scripture team at Dallas Theological Seminary wrote this devotional you might enjoy. Make a plan to join us at one of our five campuses to engage this passage in prayer and study with others in our church family.
The Slow Drift
by Kraig McNutt - based on Ecclesiastes 1, 12
"Remember your Creator in the days of your youth…" —Ecclesiastes 12:1
The backstory to Ecclesiastes 12:1 is a poignant, honest confession. An older Solomon is nearing the end of his life, looking back on a reign forged in wisdom but ended with a divided heart and fractured kingdom. And the heart of that confession? “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.” Is it easy to “remember” one’s Creator? Well, sorta. But how would the original Hebrew readers have heard this? Everything turns on what "remember" actually meant to them.
To modern people, we read this as a mental exercise. Not so for the original audience. They read this as an active orientation—to live as though God is here. Forgetting God isn't a bad case of spiritual amnesia, it's a slow, quiet, almost unnoticeable drift away from his presence. It's the difference between living life "under the sun" or in the very presence of God.
Let’s turn this history lesson into a personal conversation for now. As imagers whose lives are meant to reflect the Father, we each face the same drift that Solomon did. Maybe not because of fame or fortune, but for other, equally dangerous reasons. Most shipwrecks of the faith are not due to one single volcanic-like explosion of life happening. Instead, the wayward drift from the shore of faith is often due to a slow leak that goes unaddressed. Just a quiet, daily not-remembering.
It could be the neglect of prayer or just that seemingly insignificant life decision made without seeking God’s direction. Those things can blossom into a friendship that doesn't honor God, and into the ambition in an unchecked career path that becomes our own little kingdom "under the sun." We rarely feel the drift while it's happening. But we should be alert to its pull. This is what the writer of Hebrews is getting at: "Let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us" (Hebrews 12:1).
Perhaps you have become aware that you have been drifting for far too long, and you don’t even recognize the land anymore from where you are in the ocean of confusion, just drifting aimlessly.
To remember God today is to live this hour in his presence—not as a mental exercise, but as a quiet orientation of the heart. Solomon wrote those words from the far end of life, which means it is never too late to begin. That is the whole of Ecclesiastes in a sentence. And the whole of an imager's life.
Pray
Craft your own prayer based on the Scripture passage, asking God to be present in all the gatherings of churches across the globe, as the gospel story is shared today.
Invite someone else (friend, family member, church member, etc.) to engage in this passage in prayer with you, and share with them one thing that was meaningful to you from it.
Going Deeper
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.