Remember Him (Ecclesiastes 12)
Remember Him - before the silver cord is severed.
And with a phrase, the book’s epitome is set before us. A line of both poignant magnitude and stark simplicity, following in the wake of the unwinding of creation.
And what does it require of me? To remember Him. To remember my Creator. To remember the One who is unbounded by time and place. To incline my heart towards Him, fearing Him above all else. To view my limited creatureliness in light of who He is, and to heed the wisdom that says, whilst I may not be able to understand the weightiness of what lies behind and ahead, I know the One who does, and can trust him in it all.
To remember him - before my own days are wound down. To remember him before my heart becomes hardened by the deceitfulness of the world, the flesh and the devil. To remember him - not at a time that suits me, or even at my earliest convenience. But now. Now is the time to remember him. Before my silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
For as I pay attention to this final goad, from my loving and wise Shepherd King, I remember that my days are gift not gain. I remember that judgment is real and that eternity shapes all of life. The goads have come thick and fast and they have not been comfortable to receive. And yet I wind down my time in Ecclesiastes deeply comforted. Because to remember these words is to remember that I am a sheep in need of shepherding. And what a gift that he willingly draws near in this way, speaking his life-giving words into my fragile existence, and ultimately laying down his life for mine.
My heart is full. I sit back in awe of all that he has chosen to reveal to me on this journey through Ecclesiastes. And I pray that I would always be quick to receive his goads. Goads that nudge me forward on the path of life. Goads that show me the wisest way to live as I navigate a crooked world. Goads that are full of Spirit and Life. For to remember him, before my silver chord is severed, is to remember that He has come, that we may have life, and have it to the full.
