Today we read the final chapter of Ecclesiastes which begins with the wise advice, “Remember … your Creator in the days of your youth.” The Hebrew word for “Remember” is sometimes translated as “mindful” eg Psa 8 v.4 – that God is “mindful” of human beings!. How “full” are our minds of our Creator in our youth? Solomon sees this as vital advice when we are young, this surely specially applies when we are teenagers.

Could some unwisely have a philosophy of sowing a few ‘wild oats’ before they make a commitment to their Creator and His Son? Whatever we fill our minds with, whatever experience, however temporarily, leaves its stain in the house of our mind.

Temptation comes in many forms these days and while the ‘start’ may not seem too bad, it is not easy to get off the “broad way” once we have started along it. When we come to v. 11 we read, “The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one shepherd.”

Solomon sees himself as a shepherd, but Jesus is the ultimate shepherd. Their wise words only become like goads if we have firmly fixed them in our minds. We will soon read in Acts the point Paul made to the Ephesian elders, “for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God ‘ {20 v.27] Are we steadily absorbing the whole counsel of God day by day?

Solomon ends his thought provoking and challenging book by writing, “The end of the matter: all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

Soon we will come to the account in Acts of Paul and the Roman Governor Felix – how Paul “reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed …” [24 v.25] If we have made our minds full of our Creator “in the days of our youth” we will have no need to be alarmed.