Ecclesiastes 12:1
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.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): To remember God is every whit as needful as to draw breath, since it is He that gave us being at first, and that still gives us “life and breath,” Acts 17:25. “Let everything therefore that hath breath, praise the Lord,” even so long as it hath breath, Psalm 150:6.
CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Who of us will doubt the claim, which God makes upon us for constant remembrance? It is the duty bound upon all men—of every age—in every time. The whole of our time is not our own but God’s. And lest there should be only a moment in our life subtracted from His claim—the exhortation directs—“Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long,” Proverbs 23:17; also Psalm 16:8. Yet there is one season of special application, the days of thy youth.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): As an early piety redounds most to the honour of God, so it will bring most honour to ourselves: for those that honour God, God will honour. We find it, therefore, remarked to the praise of Obadiah, that he served the Lord from his youth, 1 Kings 18:12; of Samuel, that he stood, when young, before God in a linen ephod, 1 Samuel 2:18; of Timothy, that from a child he had known the holy scriptures, 1 Timothy 3:15; of John, that he was the youngest and most beloved disciple; and of our blessed Lord Himself, that at twelve years old He went up to the temple, and sat among the doctors, both hearing and asking them questions, Luke 2:46.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): What is implied in “remembering our Creator”?
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): They should remember there is a God, which they are apt to be forgetful of; that this God is a God of great and glorious perfections—omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, holy, just, and true; Who judgeth in the earth, and will judge the world in righteousness, and them also; and that He is in Christ a God gracious, merciful, and pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Remember likewise, that thou art not indebted to Him only for thy existence, but for thy continued preservation, and for the repeated comforts vouchsafed unto thee daily.
JOHN GILL: And they should remember the end for which they are made, to glorify Him. They should remember to love Him cordially and sincerely; to fear Him with a godly fear; and to worship Him in a spiritual manner.
CHARLES BRIDGES: The remembrance of our Creator is in connexion with every godly exercise. Does a day ever pass in the wilful neglect of the Bible without serious loss ? Do we not suffer seriously in our own souls by giving too little time—too little heart—to secret prayer? Let us be in the act and energy of seeking Him.
HERMANN WITSIUS (1636-1708) Acknowledge His Word, by consulting it—His Providence, by observing it—His Wisdom, by admiring it—His Sovereignty, by acquiescing in it—His Faithfulness, by relying on it—and His Kindness, by being thankful for it.
JOHN GILL: They should remember with reverence and humility, the distance between Him, as Creator, and them as creatures. And that they are made by Him out of the dust of the earth, and must return to it.
THE EDITOR: Thus Solomon sums it up: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil,” Ecclesiastes 12:13,14
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It is probable that Solomon wrote this when he was old, and could speak feelingly of the infirmities of age, which perhaps grew the faster upon him for the indulgence he had given himself in sensual pleasures. Some old people bear up better than others under the decays of age, but, more or less, the days of old age are, and will be, evil days and of little pleasure.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD: Ask those that are grown old, and they will inform you so.
JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): The time of old age is evil—burdensome in itself, and far more grievous when it is loaded with the sad remembrance of youthful follies, and with the dreadful prospect of approaching death and judgment; “I have no pleasure in them”—my life is now bitter and burdensome to me—which is frequently the condition of old age.
SUSANNAH WESLEY (1669-1742): Believe me, my dear son, old age is the worst time we can choose to mend either our lives or our fortunes. If the foundations of solid piety are not laid betimes in sound principles and virtuous dispositions; and if we neglect, while strength and vigour last, to lay up something ere the infirmities of old age overtake us—it is an hundred to one odds, that we shall die both poor and wicked.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): How many of your joys, my young friends, will last when old age comes to you? How many of them will survive when your eye is no longer bright, your hand no longer strong, and your foot no longer fleet? How many of them, young woman!—when the light is out of your eye, and the beauty and freshness out of your face and figure—how many of your pleasures will survive?
CHARLES BRIDGES: Separate thyself from sin, ere sin bind thee to hell. Remove sorrow and evil from thee. They are both linked together. Evil brings sorrow both to body and soul.
MATTHEW HENRY: Trouble in body and trouble in mind—the sins of youth are often the smart of age both in respect of sorrow within, Jeremiah 31:19, and suffering without, Job 20:11.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD: The unsatisfactoriness and anxiety of such a state, should be sufficient to deter all thinking persons from deferring the most important business of their life to such a dreadful period. For supposing a man to be sincere in his profession of repentance on a death-bed—which, in most cases, is very much to be doubted—yet, he is often afraid lest his convictions and remorse proceed not from a true sorrow for sin, but a servile fear of punishment. But one, who is a young saint, need fear no such perplexity; he knows that he loves God for His own sake, and is not driven to Him by a dread of impending evil; he does not decline the gratifications of sense, because he can no longer “hear the voice of singing men and singing women;” but willingly takes up his cross, and follows his blessed Master in his youth, and therefore has reason to expect greater confidence of his sincerity towards God—because it gives us a well-grounded assurance of the sincerity of our profession.
JOHN WESLEY: “Remember now.” For now thou art most able to do it; and it will be most acceptable to God, and most comfortable to thyself, as the best evidence of thy sincerity, and the best provision for old age and death.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: If there is any softening, any touch of conscience in your heart, yield to the impulse. Do not stifle it. Take Christ for your Saviour, take Him now—Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.
