Just Waiting

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

JUST WAITING

Eccl 12:1-5

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"— 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; 3 when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; 4 when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; 5 when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.

NIV

The Story of growing old and of the final breathe before death. Things just work like they did on our youth. Hearing goes bad, eyesight fades, and it even looks like Solomon was describing cataracts. How much of a daredevil we were in our youth, not afraid of jumping out of an airplane, with a chute of course, or driving at the speed of sound, in a manner of speaking. What didn’t we want to try to do? But did we remember our creator in our youth? Not so much, we just wanted to get going, experience life to its fullest. But age has a way of creeping up, it is so sly, we don’t even notice it and then suddenly it is there and we are looking at an old person in the mirror. We could even get like that grasshopper who drags himself along and our desire is no longer stirred. We could just accept this age thing, quit work, and sit back and wait for death. Then those who knew us, loved us, would gather for a night, some taking a trip down the street to the grave site, and mourn for a moment, but then go back and get on with life, maybe we might be just a memory. How sad to think like that. Life is a precious gift from God, every day of life is his gift to us, and he also gave himself for us, so we could continue on in eternal life, our eternal home. But in the meantime, let us not allow age to dim our sight, or hamper our hearing. Let us always see the Lord high and lifted up. Let us always be able to hear his voice. Let us never stop grinding, stop praising him, nor stop working both in the world and in his kingdom. Let us not be afraid of the high places or the dangers in the streets, hiding in our homes or our churches, just waiting to die. Let us get out there, living life large and out loud, as if we were still in our youth. Death will come soon enough even if we are not waiting for it, so why sit around like an old person and wait, there are things to do, places to go and people to see. We cannot be someone who is just waiting.