Finish Well
(Audio transcription below)
This morning I am going to use the sermon from the smart man in Ecclesiastes, who we think is Solomon, and then I’m going to show a video called Between Days which captures the ending mood of the preacher.
The video is titled Between Days and is about Abdulah and Sehaveta Kadenic, a Bosnian couple displaced from their home in the 1990’s by war. They moved to Norway for 12 years, but Sehaveta had a series of strokes causing her to lose her ability to talk and move most of her body. So Abdulah took her back home and put her in a nursing home 60 miles from his apartment. He travels once a week to visit her. The purpose of the video is to show what Abdulah does “Between Days” of his visits with his wife. You’ll see how it’s important to number your days because they go by very quickly.
That’s what the writer of Ecclesiastes is trying to help us do. He’s at the end of his life and he’s reflecting back. He says in Chapter 11 verses 9-10:
Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgement. Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
Vanity is one of his favorite words. It’s the Hebrew word havel and it has multiple meanings. I think the writer chose that word because he intends it to mean multiple things. Most of the time when we think of vanity we think of something meaningless and I think at times that’s what he’s trying to say. But sometimes he means it as a fog or a vapor. It looks substantial, but then it’s not. Or he might mean that it’s quickly passing. So don’t think of it as a negative thing, think of it as “the days of our youth are quickly passing.”
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.” Ecclesiastes 12:1
Then he has this great way of artistically expressing what’s happening to him physically.
Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut – when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low – they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets – 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, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. Ecclesiastes 12:2-8
I love the artistry in the video – a clock ticking, an empty glass. Abdulah stares at the pictures on the wall, his sunny days have past. “Between days” he records his history as a way for his family to remember, perhaps as a way to relive some of the sunny days. Maybe he writes because the wave of his generation is swiftly receding, his diary is one last attempt to leave his mark on the world.
The Preacher of Ecclesiastes is in a similar position so he takes to his pulpit one last time. In chapter 11, he looks out over his congregation to offer two last words of advice. – Rejoice and Remember. It’s advice especially targeted to young people.
Remember
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth. Ecclesiastes 12:1
Why the special attention given to the days of your youth? One reason is because in the days of your youth, in many areas of your life, especially physically, you are at maximum capacity. You feel like you’re invincible and when you feel invincible you feel like you don’t need the Lord. It’s a stage of life you can easily forget you have a Creator. The writer knows first hand the emptiness of forgetting about the Creator and living life according to your own passions. It’s vanity…it’s a vapor – it’s empty! Don’t do that!
Another reason to remember your Creator in your youth is precisely because you are at your prime and possess the maximum capacity. Use it for eternal purposes, for God’s kingdom NOT for X-box and Instagram. Don’t waste your youth on vapor! When you are at the finish line you will wish you hadn’t wasted the days of your productive youth!
Then he comes to Chapter 12, which is one of my favorite artistic expressions in the Bible. Remember the days of your youth because when you get older, you have less pleasure and more pain. Remember your Creator in your youth because dark days are on the horizon and you swiftly reach a day when you will have little energy left to give. You even say about your days, “I have no pleasure in them.”
Billy Graham was once asked by a student, “What was most surprising thing you found out about life?” His answer was, “I’m most surprised by it’s brevity.”
The preacher describes this sobering scene. One commentator says this about it,
It’s a sobering scene…many lights are withdrawn besides physical abilities – old friends are taken, familiar customs change, long held hopes now have to be abandoned. In one’s early years, troubles and illnesses are set-backs, not disasters. One expects the sky to clear eventually. It’s hard to adjust to the closing of that long chapter, to know now that there will be no improvement. The clouds will always gather again and time will no longer heal.
In Chapter 12:3-7, the preacher describes the spiral of old age which terminates in death. Most scholars think these descriptions are about your body. He’s using art to describe a physical condition.
- Keepers of the house tremble – hands and arms shake
- Strong men are bent – legs/shoulders/back grow weak and you walk bent over
- Grinders cease because they are few – losing your teeth
- Those who look through the windows are dimmed – losing your eyesight
- One rises up at the sound of a bird – waking up early or being a light sleeper now
- Daughters of song are brought low – losing your hearing
- Afraid of what is high, terror in the way – As you age, you become unstable in your footing and are afraid of falling
- Almond tree blossoms – white hair
- Grasshopper drags itself along – This is so, so difficult for the basketball warrior, you lose your jump shot!
- Desires fail – You lose your physical and sexual appetite. These twin appetites which were once consuming fires, now have no flame.
The downward spiral ends in death in verses 6-7. The Preacher ends like he began, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.” Life is a vapor, a mist…it goes by so quickly. Use your time well, don’t waste the time you do have.
With that fixed in our minds, revisit Ecclesiastes 11:7-9:
Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
There are days, months, maybe even years when the sun is out. There is clarity of purpose, life is uncluttered, your dreams and your capacity to fulfill them run at a high level. As the preacher said in his famous poem in Chapter 3, there is a time for every matter under heaven – a time to embrace, a time to laugh, a time to dance. In those days you should rejoice!
Rejoice
When the sun is out…celebrate! Throw your arms open wide, embrace life, laugh, dance! Wring out every ounce of joy! Don’t wish your youth away, don’t live your youth looking around the corner. Don’t only rejoice, but “let your heart cheer you on…walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes” (Ecclesiastes 11:9).
I think this is the preacher’s way of looking at the young people in his congregation and saying, “Go for it right now!” Seize the day when you are young because dark days are ahead and when you get to the end of your life it will seem like a vapor. Finishing well requires you to LIVE WELL!
One commentator says, “The Preacher specifically mentions the heart and eyes because they are the organs of desire. His advice to the young is pursue whatever you want to do, don’t wait or it will be too late!” The exhortation in verse 9 is the preachers way of looking into the eyes of a young person, seeing a desire, a dream, a divine spark and wanting to fan that spark into a forest fire! Don’t waste a single sunny day. He’s trying to reach into your soul and pull out what makes your heart beat faster? What do your eyes see? What kind of divinely appointed vision do you have of yourself?
I wonder if you know what God’s made you to do? What has he made you to do in the years you have left? You don’t want to waste any of them.
In the fall of 1986, I was 23 years old and traveled to Appalachian State with an older friend who was speaking at an Intervarsity gathering. As he stood there telling college students about Jesus in a passionate, relevant, real way, I sat in the back of the auditorium with my heart racing and I felt like I was about to burst into flame. I said, “That’s what God made me to do!” That vision has fueled the past 38 years of passionately telling people about Jesus.
What makes your heart beat faster? What kind of divinely appointed vision do you have of yourself? Maybe you are 40, 50, 60 and you say, “that’s me!” Hear me say, “It’s not too late!” You have fewer sunny days but remember the words of Joel, “God can restore to you the years the locust have eaten away.” But don’t wait any longer. Dust off your old dream and go for it!
Questions:
- Imagine you are at the finish line of your life. What do you wish will be true of you, your character or accomplishment?
- Consider the days of your youth: Are you/Did you use them wisely or waste them? Was the Creator/God in charge of these days or the Creature/you?
- Rejoice – let your heart cheer you on…walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. Go for it right now, while you have time and energy! Is there something you sense God wants you to pursue right now, before it’s too late? What would hold you back?
- To finish well, you must live well. Are you living well? Why or why not?
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