Remembering God
Ecclesiastes 12
August 30, 2015
Live in continual communication with God and with a constant awareness that He created you.
I wonder how many times I have told people I will remember something and within 10 seconds I have already forgotten what I was supposed to remember. Does that ever happen to you? It’s not only the simple things like what were those 3 items to buy at the grocery store. It goes way beyond that. In fact, I would guess most of you have not even considered gravity today. I bet you forgot about that.
You probably didn't wake up this morning and think, ‘Thank you Lord for gravity! For without gravity I’d be floating around this room! I wouldn't be able to walk or digest food!’ We don’t remember that gravity was set up by God to help us function on Earth. We don't think about it that much.
Is God like that to you — some gravitational force that keeps things going but is rarely given much thought? Solomon is reminding us today — Remember God.
Consider your car's windshield. Yes, I’m getting a little silly here. But, do you know how hard it would be to drive somewhere without a windshield? Your hair, well some of you would have your hair out of place and bugs all over you. Give thanks for your windshield. When was the last time you remembered to get into your car and gave thanks for your windshield? Is God like that to you? Do you look right past Him and forget what He does?
Today will be our last day looking at Ecclesiastes. We are looking at chapter 12. Solomon told us ~
1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
Solomon is reminding us to keep our focus on God — that we should remember Him. God is not like a windshield or gravity. Neither of those things cares whether you acknowledge them or not. Your windshield doesn't say to itself — ‘I feel so unappreciated; I do all this work, and they never notice me.’ What separates God from a windshield is that he is a Person. When you go a few days or even a week without remembering your Creator, you function independently of Him. The windshield doesn’t care, God does.
If you needed to borrow something, you wouldn’t go up to a complete stranger and ask to borrow their lawn mower. You don’t know them and you have not built up a trust relationship with them. When you know somebody you are more willing to ask to borrow something.
I think it’s the same way with God. If you haven't established a relationship with God. If you have not devveloped a relationship where you trust and have confidence in God, it’s difficult to ask God for things. I believe your spiritual walk with God is not going to be as thriving as if you had an ongoing and growing relationship with God. I think, intuitively, you know it’s not courteous to ask for things when you haven't established a relationship. Does this mean you should stop asking God for things? No! It means that you first need to start remembering your Creator. But how?
I think it’s as simple as moving through the day with your Creator.
You begin to remember your Creator simply by talking about your day with him. It’s so simple, yet, too many people don’t remember this. I’m really talking about prayer. And I’m talking about very informal prayer. You don't have to have a long list of stuff to ask Him; you can just start talking about what's on your mind that very moment.
Generally when we’re driving to work our minds are on about a hundred things other than driving. We’re thinking about home life, our friends, a situation we’re struggling with, work, school, our health, and that list is endless.
So, as you’re driving remember that God is with you! He has promised to always be with you. So, yes, when you’re making a mad dash to work or school or wherever . . . remember God is with you.
Start talking to God about what’s on your mind. Move your lips when you’re talking, it will keep you on track especially if the radio is on. Who cares what others think. They probably will think you’re on your bluetooth phone and . . . you kind of are . . . but with God.
Simply start a conversation. It doesn't have to be all religious. Talk about what’s on your mind, talk about what your heart is saying to you. Talk about the traffic. Whatever it is, remember to share with God what’s going on. It doesn’t sound all that devout and holy and pious. But, you’re talking to God, and that’s what is most important.
When you get to the parking lot, maybe you're thinking, I need to make that phone call I've been avoiding, but I don't want to. Then you remember God is with you, and you say, "God, I have to make this phone call. Can you help me with that? Give me the right words to say, give me the patience. Ok, Lord, I'm going to make that call right now." You're remembering your Creator in the moment. That’s part of your prayer! It’s part of building the trust relationship with God.
You remember your Creator when you start walking through your day with Him. Once you've acknowledged God's presence on a daily basis and establish a level of trust with Him, it becomes easier to ask Him about the bigger things, it feels like you have more of a relationship and it becomes easier to ask for your needs. It begins to feel more natural and you become less fearful. And God is no longer that seemingly mean tyrant.
How many times do some of us beat ourselves up for having a poor prayer life? We beat ourselves up because we can’t spend 30 solid minutes reading the Bible and praying. But prayer comes in so many different ways. Imagine if you prayed for 5 minutes — 6 times per day? If you have reminders to help you remember until it becomes so natural to pray. If you do that 6 times per day, you’ve prayed for 30 minutes.
Then you’re not beating yourself up and you’re beginning to get to know God much better. It may take a little time to grasp this, but build on your successes and don’t beat yourself up when you don’t make it. REMEMBER! God is always with you. And in the process, you will build a sense of God's presence all day long and find that you’re able to ask about things you never would have thought of in the morning. You can do this because you're in the moment with God.
The other main point Solomon is making in verse 1 is one we often don’t remember . . . We are creatures!
Solomon uses the word Creator when talking about God. It’s the only time in Ecclesiastes this word is used. He could have said, "Remember the Lord," "Remember God," or "Remember the Holy One;" but he wrote — "Remember your Creator."
Why does he do that? Once you remember you have a Creator, you remember you’re a creature — a created being. This is one thing we often forget. We must remember we have a Creator.
You see, the minute we forget we were created, we start to solve all the problems of the world on our own. That road leads to independence and when we seek our independence from God, we are moving towards self destruction. God says, "Remember your Creator." Remember that you are someone's masterpiece. Somebody made you; you are not your own.
In the New Testament, the story gets even better. The apostle Paul tells us that not only are we made in the image of God, but we're redeemed and purchased with his own blood. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul wrote ~
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN, 20 FOR YOU WERE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE. So glorify God in your body. — 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
That’s great news! We were bought with the blood of Jesus on the cross. Because we were bought, we are no longer our own. For if you have a relationship with Jesus, He is your Lord — He is your master, owner and creator.
You see, we don’t like to think of ourselves as creatures of a Creator. We want to be independent. We want to have control over our lives and do our own thing. We don't like the idea that we belong to somebody. We want to be free.
Yet, there is the joy of knowing that someone, God, loves us so much that He was willing to sacrifice the life of His Son to purchase us from certain eternal death, so that we could have eternal life. When we really, really come to that realization we should be ecstatic, awe struck — knowing we belong to Almighty God, the Creator of the universe.
Solomon later said, in Ecclesiastes 12:6 — Remember Him . . . 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
All of that snapping, breaking, and shattering is a metaphor for your life coming to an end. It's like a pitcher falling off a shelf, shattering beyond the point of repair. Solomon tells us to remember God before that happens.
He goes on to say: 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
The Hebrew word for spirit means "the breath of life." Solomon is saying the breath of life God breathed into us goes back to the One who breathed it. Which leads Solomon to his typical pessimistic conclusion . . . 8 Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Another way to say it would be life is meaningless or life is fleeting, life is futile. If you try to hang on to something, it slips away. We realize life is fragile, we realize life does not last forever, and we know it can be shattered and broken at any moment. So, as we move through this life, the call from Solomon is to remember your Creator while you still have the ability to remember.
In the first verses of chapter 12, Solomon was writing about how our bodies begin to deteriorate as we get older. We become bent over, our grinders, our teeth decrease, our eyes get worse. Our arms and legs become weaker and our hearing fails. It sounds like so much fun! Yet, he encourages us to Remember your Creator before the end.
The thought that I belong to somebody and am accountable for my actions puts me in my place. I feel like looking up to God and saying, "I'm sorry I forgot You made me."
In the end, Solomon boils it all down to this — 13 Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
With this conclusion, we're right back where we started. What does the Creator do? The Creator creates us and holds His creation accountable. That may be distasteful to some people — whole kingdoms and philosophies have been launched to try to avoid that very simple thing — but we are accountable. God will bring every act to judgment, private and public, good or evil.
We don't get the final say in things. We just do what we can with what God gives us. We take risks; we live in the moment; we try things, because we don't know what's going to succeed. God makes very few promises about how things are going to turn out. God encourages us to keep moving forward, do the right thing and let Him worry about the outcomes . . .
But . . . remember Him! Dear friends remember God! Remember He is your Creator. Remember He bought you. Remember to spend time with Him, get to know Him so that you will trust Him to go to Him with whatever it is you need!
