Daily Devotions
Ecclesiastes
"Man goes to his eternal home"
Text: Ecclesiastes 12:5
FURTHER SOBERING INSIGHTS ABOUT OLD AGE
As age advances, an aged person becomes more prominently weak and forlorn. These are sobering truths we must take heed of.
“Also they are afraid of height,
And of terrors in the way;
When the almond tree blossoms,
The grasshopper is a burden,
And desire fails.
For man goes to his eternal home,
And the mourners go about the streets.”
Ecclesiastes 12:5
1. “Also they are afraid of height, and of terrors in the way”
a) When people grow older, they tend to become more fearful.
b) When one is young, height is not a problem.
c) When one is much older, fear creeps in.
d) There may arise an inordinate fear of:
i) “Heights”
There is a fear of falling down and hurting oneself.
ii) “Terrors in the way”
Many things bring “terror” to the heart.
iii) Some fears may be more imagined than real!
2. “When the almond tree blossoms”
a) When the almond tree blossoms, it turns white.
b) An early sign of ageing is when the hair starts turning white like the almond blossoms.
3. “The grasshopper is a burden”
a) The grasshopper hardly weighs much.
b) This describes a time when old age causes a person to be weak so much so,
that the grasshopper seems as heavy as a burden (intended exaggeration)!
4. “And desire fails”
a) This happens to an aged person.
b) The natural desires of life will ebb and fade away.
5. “For man goes to his eternal home”
a) The home we have on earth is not an eternal one!
b) Man will go to his eternal home indeed!
c) Where is that eternal home?
6. “And the mourners go about the streets”
a) This describes the funeral procession.
b) There will be mourners.
i) Family
ii) Friends
7. Let us recall what the Lord Jesus said to His Disciples
“Let not your heart be troubled;
you believe in God, believe also in Me.
In My Father’s house are many mansions;
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you to Myself;
that where I am, there you may be also.
And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
John 14:1-4
a) We have a home in heaven, in our Father’s house.
b) The Lord will prepare a place for us.
c) Let us exercise our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.