Ecclesiastes 12
Remember also your Creator… (v. 1) The first and hardest part of that for each of us is to truly understand that I am not my Creator. (And by “I” and “my”, I also mean “you” and “your”.) I am not the creator of my own universe, I am not the center of my universe, and I certainly don’t control this universe. It is best to figure that out when we are young, while we have a chance to live well and robustly and wisely, before our “house” starts to fall down around us. The imagery of growing old and dying in Ecc. 12:1-8 is striking, and it drives home the Preacher‘s perspective that we need to look reality square in the eye and consider what really matters. Our Creator pronounced that reality at the Fall: You are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Gen 3:19) God means what He says, so live accordingly.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 12:8
Of course, that echoes Ecc. 1:2, which we heard at the outset, so are we just right back where we started? Are we just meant to conclude that life is bleak, and the future bleaker? Hardly. But we are meant to see that the entire system is rigged. God rigged it when we broke it, and He rigged it in love. In love He made it such that we cannot possibly find satisfaction without Him. When we insist on going our own way, deluding ourselves with unrealities, we are bound to be disappointed. That, I think, is what the Preacher means by “all is vanity”. And all that “vanity” is meant to point us back to God. Saint Augustine says it this way:
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
Saint Augustine of Hippo, Confessions
The Preacher tells us many times in Ecclesiastes that we should eat and drink and find enjoyment in our work, that we should gratefully accept and enjoy the gifts that God gives us. Such enjoyment is also meant to point us back to God, that we might see Him in those simple pleasures, and that we might acknowledge that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. (James 1:17) It is in such surrender to the ultimate Reality that we find peace. Neither fret about tomorrow nor try to conquer it; rather, enjoy today as God’s gift, trusting that He will make all things right.
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13,14
One more thing…
Despite the warning in Ecc. 12:12 that of making many books there is no end, I’d like to again commend to you the book, Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in the Light of the End, by David Gibson. It is very insightful, much more so than my commentary here. It is not by any means a difficult book, so don’t be put off by envisioning some dense theological treatise. It is well worth the read. And remember, life is gift, not gain.