May 31: End of Ecclesiastes

Living with a perspective.

At the end of his critical thought pursuit Solomon encourages young people:

"Remember your Creator

in the days of your youth,

before the days of trouble come..." (Eccl. 12:1)

If Solomon was writing this towards the end of his life, the youth he speaks to might as well be people of all ages. He urges us to remember our Creator.

Sometimes we might need motivational boost from God in order to start trusting and obeying Him: we wait until we see His faithful work in our life, or in the lives of others, or until we see miracles. And that's OK. It's part of how we have relationship with God in life. But I wonder if sometimes just remembering who He is would be enough for us? Can the knowledge that He made us give us enough fear and passion to look up to Him? Solomon was giving us a perspective for life. If you know who created you, your identity and your life's pursuit surely will be defined by your Creator. And knowing that He is God, and therefore He is good, why would you want to run away from Him? Solomon concludes:

Now all has been heard;

here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,

whether it is good or evil. (Eccl. 12:13,14)

We do struggle with this: obeying. We think: it's not fair,why shouldn't I be able to live my life however I want? When I was a kid my dad took me on a work-related trip to a neighbouring country. I was happy, I felt free as a bird. But if it was up to me, he wouldn't have to work on this trip. I wanted to see everything. But what if my dad just said: "Sure if you want to go around the foreign city by yourself, go right ahead." Of course I would've gotten lost without him. Nope, 'whatever dad says goes.' With God, we are children, and yet we are like grown up children. We think we are independent enough to decide to run away on our own and for some reason God allows us certain freedom. Sometimes He honors our choice to go our own way. Maybe He knows that we would only learn from our own mistakes. But we are not without excuse: He has clearly told us about the consequence: "You will get lost. You are chasing after the wind, your home is with Me in eternity. I have placed a longing for eternity in your heart. You know this." And He'd also told us that wherever we go and whatever we do, we will eventually have to give an answer for our actions.

See, we are created. We know our identity. But do we live our lives in light of this knowledge? Do we know that life's meaning is to live in this identity? Do we fear our Creator and follow His direction: like a child always fears her father's scorn. Like she always trusts that he would take care of her and goes wherever he goes.

Do we find safety in our Creator or do we prefer to be a runaway?