Before the Silver Cord Is Snapped

 By Alistair Begg

Remember also your Creator … 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.

Ecclesiastes 12:1, Ecclesiastes 12:6

Life is extremely fragile—and the poetry written here by the author of Ecclesiastes is intended to demonstrate just how fragile it is. It’s like a hanging lamp that is shattered as a result of just one little piece of the cord breaking. Our lives here are held by a very, very slender thread. In the poetic world of the Preacher, it would take only the slightest movement for a cord to sever, a bowl to shatter, a pitcher to fall into the spring, or a wheel that has been used to bring the bucket up from the well to find itself out of commission. This list reminds us that one day, and very possibly without warning, our time will be up as well. Perhaps you work in the world of investments, engineering, technology, or scientific research, or you know someone who does. In these fields of employment, all sorts of calculations are required—oftentimes vitally important ones. Every single one of us, however, is called to calculate something even more crucial: our life. And if we are ever going to number our days rightly or figure out life’s meaning and purpose, it will only be through divine grace. The book of Ecclesiastes frequently reminds us that the end of our lives is coming. We are told that “the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). But we are not at the conclusion of our lives—yet. So today is a day of opportunity. What is the opportunity that we are being called to take? God, by His word, isn’t asking you to do something particularly difficult. He isn’t asking you to start a charity organization, to climb the height of Kilimanjaro, or to run around the block 47 times saying various prayers. He’s simply asking you to remember Him and commit all of your life to Him, without holding anything back, while you still can, so that, beyond the day when the silver cord is snapped, you will enter the eternal city where the streets are paved with gold (Revelation 21:21). Have you done that? Will you do that? Will you do that now?