December 15, 2023

Ecclesiastes 12: 1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them.” (NIV)

If I can’t see God’s blessings in my life, I might be looking for the wrong things.*

We’ve heard it said that youth is wasted on the young. The saying has an element of truth, as sayings usually do. When we are young, we don’t know to savor the moments. As someone (I don’t know who) poignantly reminds us: “At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went outside to play together for the last time and nobody knew it.” When my boys were little, our bed-time routine was for the three of us to sit in the rocking chair while I read to them, or we sang, or we chatted about whatever came to mind. I tried to savor those moments as they were happening but I wish I could have known which night was the last time it was ever going to happen.

I don’t know the solution to the ignorance of our youth, but it’s never too late to start appreciating our Creator and his blessings. The writer of Ecclesiastes (assumed to be Solomon) has a gloomy outlook on middle age and beyond. Trouble does come but it doesn’t have to rob us of all our joy. Our years and maturity should at least have taught us as much – if we have faith in God’s promises. Because joy is more than pleasure, and the lack of trouble is no guarantee of joy.

As the days of trouble come and the years approach, learn to find the joy of the Lord. Paul’s prayer in Romans 15: 13 provides us with a roadmap to joyful living: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Pleasure? Who needs it?

Joy is a result of a life lived in him.*