By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia
Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 12:1-14
Robert Wolgemuth recently authored a book entitled Gun Lap. I’d never heard of the gun lap, even during the Olympics. Yet in a long-distance race, whenever the leading runner starts his final lap, the starting gun is fired a second time. That pistol shot signals the start of the gun lap — a runner’s last chance to go all out for the win. So Gun Lap is about finishing strong, focusing on the final lap in life’s race.
Our focal passage, Ecclesiastes 12:1-14, asks “What’s Life All About?” No one could answer better than the aging King Solomon, who had tried almost everything. His words prompt us to think seriously about running our “gun lap.” As I move through my eighties, I personally aim to give my best for the Lord and to finish strong. You likely have that same desire. So today’s lesson provides a great opportunity to leave it all out on the track.
First, Solomon calls us to “remember now your Creator, in the days of your youth, before the difficult (or evil) days come…” (verse 1).
I received a book in my teen years that made a lifelong impression on me; its title was the first two words of today’s text, “Remember Now.” That word NOW is chock-full of Bible truth. Paul wrote in II Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation;” there are similar verses throughout Scripture. NOW is the time for the ‘3 R’s’ of the Gospel, if you’ve never experienced them: Repent of sins, Receive Christ as your Savior — who died on the cross and rose again for those sins — and Respond by openly confessing that Jesus Christ is your Lord. Don’t wait; don’t procrastinate; do it today.
Solomon next (in verses 1-7) details what those “difficult, evil days” are like; he begins to describe … aging! Days when pleasure isn’t our big thing. When we don’t clearly see sun, moon, stars and clouds. When our legs and arms (keepers of the house, strong men) tremble. When we start losing teeth (grinders are few). When our eyes begin failing (those who look through the windows grow dim). When we don’t hear as well (doors are shut in the streets and the sound of grinding is low, and the daughters of music are brought low). When we can’t sleep late anymore (rising up at the sound of a bird). When heights and terrors on the way make us fearful. When gray hairs show up (the almond tree blossoms), and little things “bug” us (the grasshopper is a burden)! That could also refer to growing weaker, as does the phrase desire fails. Then there’s the funeral (man goes to his eternal home, and mourners go about in the streets). Solomon ends his portrait of aging with six poetical phrases about dying as a believer (verses 6-7).
In the closing verses of Ecclesiastes (12:9-14), Solomon shares the two things he’s found that are NOT “vanities:” to fear God (be in reverent awe of Him), and to keep His commandments (verse 13). The old king tells why we should remember God now, because we will all give an account of our lives to Him (verse 14). Here comes the Judge!
