"Remember him - before the silver cord is severed ..." (v. 6)

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 12:5-8

Can you handle another day focusing on the characteristics of old age? Remember the ability to face reality is one of the evidences of mental health! You don't have to dwell on the facts as they relate to old age, but you do have to face them. That is all Solomon is saying. Four more characteristics are given in verse 5. First, fear - fear of heights and being out in busy streets. Second, the appearance of gray hair. Clearly, the phrase "the almond tree blossoms" is a reference to a head of silver hair. Third, the difficulty of walking - "the grasshopper drags himself along." One has a picture here of walking frames or walking sticks. As you know, it takes old people a little longer to get where they want to go! Fourth, the waning of the sex drive. In verse 6 Solomon returns to the point he made in the opening verse of the chapterÑremember Him. Remember God, he reminds us, before "the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken." These graphic word pictures (and the ones that follow) all point to death. Now to stop just there would be gloomy indeed, but Solomon gives us something to lift our hearts: "the spirit returns to God who gave it" (v. 7). Death, to those who love God, is not the end, but the beginning; the majestic commencement of what life is all about - union with God. To those who do not know God, however, death is a transition from emptiness to even greater emptiness (v. 8). Those who know how to live know also how to die.

O God, I am so thankful for the victory that Christ wrought for me over the grave. He "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Help me to live in that victory from one day to another. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.