Wednesday Bible Study: The end of all things- Ecclesiastes

Today we are at chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes, Solomon's great discourse over the waste of a life focused on self.  And it is a rather poignant reminder of what is going on today, with all the panic over the pandemic.  And that reminder is:  We live in a world of self-focused people who don't put God to remembrance.  For a change, let me let the first section of this chapter do the talking:

Ecc 12:1  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"; 

Ecc 12:2  before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 

Ecc 12:3  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, 

Ecc 12:4  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-- 

Ecc 12:5  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-- 

Ecc 12:6  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, 

Ecc 12:7  and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 

Ecc 12:8  Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. 

Are we not very much at this point:  The work ceases because the workers are few, we sit at home looking dimly through the windows, because of the dead and the mourners?  Solomon warned us to look to God BEFORE these days, but now they are here.  The start of 12:3 sounds exceptionally like what we saw from Congress this past couple of weeks.

But, I'm not here to discuss politics.  Rather, I am here to get to what Solomon was getting at, what he learned from hard experience, and what we could/can learn if we take the lessons of Proverbs to heart:

Ecc 12:11  The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 

Ecc 12:12  My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. 

Ecc 12:13  The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 

Note the lessons from these three lines, which is the core of both this book and Proverbs:

1- True wisdom comes from the One Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

2- Science and philosophy can build a library, but only truth can save a soul.

3- Fear God and be obedient, that is the whole of things.