Ecclesiastes 12

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Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 (KJV) 1 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; 

The word of God was written for the Young. If the youth learn Christ from the beginning it would take their lives in a totally different direction.  Although we can learn the word of God when we’re older,  well, it just so happened to be that it is so much better if we learned it when we were younger.  When Jesus gave the parable about working in the vineyard, (Matthew 20) some of the people complained that they had been working all day and he hired some new people when it almost time to get off; the new people can be the older people who came later. No matter when you come, just come but he would rather if you come when you are young and so will you.

2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: 

It is best to come to the word of God when you are young while you can see, while you can walk, while you can run while you have dreams; come no matter what age just come before it’s too late.

3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

Find the word of God before you get too old; If you have a housekeeper they are too old. If you have strong men who are now too old to do what they could do when they were stronger still come. Before your teeth get to the point they can’t chew hard things, come. 

 The bottom line is God is talking to the youth so they can maximize all of the potentials that he has for them to enjoy life following his direction.

4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; 

Again God is letting us see how important it is to follow him in our youth; we can follow him before the doors are closed, and the workload is different and you get up so early and the only person is talking to you are the birds. 

One more thing…before you have to turn the music down low   God is seeing you ought to come to get to know me.

5 Also [when] they shall be afraid of [that which is] high, and fears [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: 

God is calling us to know him early because one day we have to die. One day we will be afraid to climb too high, take care of our yards, the trees have fruit and we can’t pick them, and the next thing we know they are marching down the street and people are crying because we are no longer here.

6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. 

We should come to the word of God and get to know the God of the word before things begin to break down. Sometimes the things we valued are very expensive and lasted a long time, but we never took the time to read the word of God.  We took more time investing in things that are costly, yet they corrode.  God is trying to prevent this; so he’s actually pleading to the young; take advantage of getting to know me in your youth.

7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. 

Now it’s too late you are buried and it’s time to stand before the creator. Get to know God, because we will leave this world.

8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all [is] vanity. 

It is stupidity living your whole life without God.

9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, [and] set in order many proverbs. 

Solomon was king, more importantly, he was an educator. He wanted people to know how to live and how to make the right choices. He also wrote the book of Proverbs and did everything he could to show people what he discovered and what they needed to know in order to live a long life and please God.

10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and [that which was] written [was] upright, [even] words of truth. 

Solomon sought God's Word to feed the people God's knowledge.

11 The words of the wise [are] as goads, and as nails fastened [by] the masters of assemblies, [which] are given from one shepherd. 

God‘s word is man’s direction. God gave us his word and pointed us in the direction that we want to go in.  God’s word encourages us, guides us, leads us, and shows us how to follow directions.

12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books [there is] no end; and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh. 

Solomon is saying to the students don’t waste time studying books and writing books for a long period of time. This one book written by God answers all questions. If we did what this book says, we wouldn’t waste time writing books that have no meaning or at least not enough meaning to keep from wasting time.

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man. 

After Solomon concludes; the only thing that a man needs to do is to obey God. If man obeys God, he will love and enjoy his life.

14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil.

God shall bring everything we ever did on earth to a place where we will have to be judged.  We will be judged by our thoughts our words and everything known or kept secret,  good or bad, God will have the last word.

God will judge our private and public life.