Latest / Reformed Thinking / Numbering Our Fleeting Days: Rejoicing Wisely in the Prime of Life (Ecclesiastes 11:7-10)

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Numbering Our Fleeting Days: Rejoicing Wisely in the Prime of Life (Ecclesiastes 11:7-10) · Reformed Thinking

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Usually when we talk about a stopwatch, there is this
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expectation of control. Right.
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Yeah. You press the button, the
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digital numbers start ticking, and then you know when you're
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ready to take a break, you just press the button again.
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Yeah, it pauses. It just waits for you.
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We like things to be manageable, we like them to be under our
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strict supervision. Oh, absolutely.
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But then you step into the reality of humor, existence, and
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the unrelenting March of time, and suddenly you realize that
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the stopwatch is totally broken. Yeah, the pause button is just
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gone. We are looking at a
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chronological landscape that is constantly vanishing right
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before our eyes, and no matter how much money or sheer
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willpower we throw at it, the numbers just keep ticking up.
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They really do. Welcome to Reformed thinking.
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Today we are taking a massive look into a text that confronts
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this very reality. It's a huge topic.
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We are analyzing 2 incredibly thorough theological
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commentaries on Ecclesiastes Chapter 11, verses 7 through 10.
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Yeah, and our mission today is to understand the biblical
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mandate to rejoice in the fleeting prime of life.
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Right. And doing all of that while
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living under the decree of a holy God.
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We are so glad you were here with us.
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The sources we have in front of us, they tackle a massive
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cultural problem. They really do.
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It's our society's absolute dread of aging.
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Yeah, we are going to look at how the modern world's frantic
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panic over losing its youth contrasts sharply with the
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biblical reality. Which is that life is short, it
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is sweet, and it is entirely accountable to a holy judge.
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We have a lot of ground to cover today.
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We do, and the stakes could not be higher for how you view the
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ticking clock of your own life. The stakes are astronomical.
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Honestly, what stands out to you immediately when reading these
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sources is the sheer contrast between the ancient texts and
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our modern sensibilities. Oh for sure.
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I mean the modern world is fundamentally at war with
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reality. One of the sources actually
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describes this as a cult of youth.
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A cult of youth. Wow.
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Yeah. Driven by the reality of total
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depravity, fallen humanity continually seeks to build a
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utopia apart from the sovereign decree of Almighty God.
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We see this all around us, don't we?
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Everywhere the world dictates that human value is
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intrinsically tied to physical vitality.
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Right to outward appearance and the fleeting vigor of the early
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years. Spot on.
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The societal mandate essentially demands that if you fall outside
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the highly restricted artificial age bracket of 20 to 35, well,
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you must do your absolute utmost to make yourself look like you
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still fit within it. The statistics cited in the text
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are just staggering. They really are.
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The global anti aging market is projected to reach an
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astronomical $150 billion by the year 2035.
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Wait, 150 billion? Yes, that is $150 billion spent
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on creams, lotions, pills, surgeries, you name it.
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All in a futile attempt to stave off the physical effects of
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Genesis 3. It is a desperate idol.
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But when we examine the ancient Near Eastern context, the
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reality was entirely different. Well, in the ancient world,
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physical decline was rapid, it was highly visible, and it was
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unmitigated by modern medicine. Right.
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They didn't have the pharmaceutical buffers we rely
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on today. No, they didn't.
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When a person grew old in ancient Israel, the decline was
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undeniable. Furthermore, the biblical
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worldview established in the text understands that death and
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bodily decay are not natural components of an evolutionary
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upward trajectory. Absolutely not.
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They are the direct penal consequences of human rebellion
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against a holy God, right? Death is the curse.
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So the prime of life was recognized as a precious, albeit
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extraordinarily brief, window of vitality.
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You know, the way our society approaches aging is it's like
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frantically trying to catch mist in a jar with the lid off.
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Oh, that's a great way to put it.
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You're running around grasping at the vapor, spending billions
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of dollars on cosmetic procedures and serums.
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But the harder society grasps at youth, the faster it evaporates
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right through their fingers. The mist cannot be contained.
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It really can't. You cannot put a lid on the
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passing of time. Yet the entire cultural
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machinery is built on the illusion that you can.
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I mean, think about the targeted ads you see every single day.
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All the algorithms. Right, the algorithm notices you
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had a birthday and suddenly your feet is flooded with aggressive
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marketing telling you that your skin is losing elasticity.
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Your energy is dropping. Yeah, and you need this specific
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supplement to reverse the clock. It tells you that if you just
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buy the right product, or adopt the right diet or get the right
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procedure, you can freeze the stopwatch.
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But the ancient Near Eastern mindset, which was informed by
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the reality of the Genesis curse, had no such illusions.
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None at all. They saw the wrinkles, they felt
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the joints aching without the relief of modern pain relievers,
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and they knew the mist was vanishing.
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The frantic grasping at youth is not just a psychological quirk,
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it is a theological. Rebellion.
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That's strong statement. It is an arrogant refusal to
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submit to the reality of the Creator's design.
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If we are running around trying to catch mist in a jar, we are
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essentially telling the Creator that we reject the boundaries He
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has set for our earthly existence.
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Wow, we are demanding permanence in a world that he has
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explicitly subjected to futility.
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Yes. So what does this all mean for
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the person listening right now who feels that panic creeping in
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every time they look in the mirror?
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Well, what it means is that we must submit our understanding of
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time to the one who created time.
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Precisely. The text brings a critical
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theological truth to bear on this panic.
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Right, because God has eternally decreed all things that come to
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pass, including the specific unalterable number of our days.
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The commentary actually references Job chapter 14 verse
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five. It states that man's days are
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determined, that the number of his months is with God, and that
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God has appointed his limits that he cannot pass.
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Therefore, the world's desperate attempt to cling to youth is, at
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its root, an arrogant refusal to submit to God's Providence.
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It is an attempt to usurp the sovereignty of God.
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Which is terrifying. We cannot stop the clock, so we
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must look at how the preacher Kohaleth instructs us to handle
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the time we actually possess. And the placement of this text
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is a masterpiece of divine inspiration.
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Let's unpack that. The literary context is huge
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here. It really is.
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The 1st 10 chapters of Ecclesiastes relentlessly
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deconstruct every single secular philosophy for finding meaning
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under the sun, right? The Preacher examines wealth,
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human wisdom, monumental architecture, and political
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dominance. He built literal forests,
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amassed silver and gold, and gathered singers.
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He tested every conceivable earthly pleasure.
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And he pronounces the identical verdict over all of it.
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It is all a chasing after the wind.
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Then in the 1st 6 verses of Chapter 11, the text addresses
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the unpredictable nature of God's Providence.
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We are told to cast our bread upon the waters, to sow our seed
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in the morning and evening, precisely because we do not know
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what disasters may happen on earth.
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Or which of our laborers will actually succeed?
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Following our focal passage, Chapter 12 provides a dark,
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heavily poetic description of old age and bodily collapse.
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It speaks of the keepers of the house trembling, the grinder
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ceasing because they are few, and the silver cord snapping.
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Therefore, verses 7 through 10 of Chapter 11 act as the
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critical bridge. Yes, it is the urgent
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prescriptive pivot right before those evil days of bodily
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declining line arrive. That structural placement is
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fascinating. It changes everything.
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It means that Ecclesiastes 11, verses 7 through 10 is not just
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a random collection of proverbs thrown into the mix.
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It is the hinge upon which the entire conclusion of the book
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swings. Right, because if you isolate
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this passage from the surrounding text, it sounds
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almost like a secular license for self indulgence.
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It really does. You hear commands to rejoice, to
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follow the impulses of your heart, and to enjoy the light.
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And if you cut that out of its literary setting, you could slap
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it on a bumper sticker and call it a day for modern hedonism.
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But when you place it precisely where the preacher put it, right
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after the complete destruction of earthly philosophies and
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right before the terrifying poetry of physical collapse, it
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becomes a pastoral mandate to wake up.
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It is a command to view your present vitality through the
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lens of eternity. Because usually when people
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realize they cannot control the future and that old age is
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coming like a freight train, they either freeze in anxiety or
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they distract themselves to death.
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That is so true. How does uncertainty about the
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future usually paralyze people? And how does the preacher's
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placement of this specific text force the reader into action
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instead? Well, human nature reacts to
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uncertainty and impending decline with either crippling
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anxiety or reckless apathy. We see that all the time.
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We either hoard our resources and refuse to live out of fear
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of what tomorrow might bring, or we declare that nothing matters
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and give ourselves over to base desires.
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The preacher breaks this paralysis by issuing divine
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imperatives. He does not offer suggestions.
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He gives commands rooted in the character of God.
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Right. The text forces action by
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demanding that we acknowledge the objective goodness of the
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present moment while simultaneously holding a severe
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awareness of future accountability.
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We see this in the exegesis of verses 7 and 8, where the text
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defines our existence. Verse 7 says light is sweet and
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it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
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The Hebrew word for light here is or.
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This is not just Speaking of physical photons hitting the
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retina. What does it signify?
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It signifies life, joy, and the Creator's common grace.
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Common grace is a massive theological concept.
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It really is. It refers to the unmerited favor
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God bestows upon all mankind, regardless of their spiritual
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state. It is the reason rain falls on
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the crops of both the just and the unjust.
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Exactly. I mean, it is the reason a
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perfectly brewed cup of coffee brings genuine enjoyment, or why
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laughter exists in a fallen world.
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It is a theological declaration that existence, even here, east
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of Eden, even living under the curse, is an objective good.
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To see the sun is to experience the benevolence of God's
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providential bordering of the world.
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The preacher, who has spent 10 chapters exposing the futility
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of life without God, begins his final exhortation with wonder
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and gratitude. Then verse 8 extends this into
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an active duty. If a person lives many years,
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let him rejoice in them all. Notice the grammar there.
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Yeah, this is not a passive suggestion that you might happen
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to feel happy. It is a command.
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Joy is not restricted to perfect circumstances.
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It is an active duty regardless of your age or the specific
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hardships of your current chapter.
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But then comes the balancing weight, right?
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But let him remember that the days of darkness will be many.
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All that comes is vanity. The Hebrew word translated
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vanity is hebel. And we need to clarify that it
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does not mean atheistic meaninglessness.
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No, it means vapor breath or transience.
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The legalist thinks refusing earthly joy is a mark of true
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holiness, wearing a sour face to prove their piety.
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And the hedonist thinks earthly joy requires ignoring God
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entirely. The text absolutely crushes both
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errors. It demands that we rejoice in
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the light while numbering the days of darkness.
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You know, I think of Hebel like a stunningly beautiful sunrise.
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OK, I like that. When you watch the skylight up
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with those brilliant pinks and oranges, it is breathtaking.
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It is an objective, undeniable good.
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But you cannot put that sunrise in a box to keep for tomorrow.
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You cannot hoard it. If you try to cling to it, it
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vanishes. You must enjoy it precisely as
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it happens, acknowledging that it is fleeting.
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The legalist looks at the sunrise and says I shouldn't
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enjoy this too much. It might distract me from my
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solemn duties. I must look at the dirt instead.
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Right. And the hedonist looks at the
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sunrise and says this is mine, I deserve this and I'm going to
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pretend the sun will never set. But the biblical wisdom tells
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you to stand there, marvel at the colors, thank the Creator
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for the staggering beauty of the light, and then prepare your
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soul for the night that is inevitably coming.
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You cannot capture the vapor, but you are commanded to be
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grateful for the breath while it is in your lungs.
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And because life is a vapor, the text turns its sharpest focus to
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the specific season of life where that vapor is most of
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vibrant. What is the youth?
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Yes, the author fires off these rapid imperatives directed
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straight at the young man in verse 9.
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Rejoice, let your heart cheer you walk in the ways of your
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heart, in the sight of your eyes.
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Now, if you did not know your Bible, that sounds like terrible
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advice. It sounds like a blank check for
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chaos. But the sources are very clear
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that this is not an endorsement of sinful lust.
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The law severely condemns following the heart into sin,
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like we see in Numbers 1539. Instead, this is permission, an
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authoritative command to enjoy lawful opportunities, to embrace
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legitimate love, and to engage in vigorous labor.
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But then the hammer drops. We get this devastating
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adversative clause, but know that for all these things, God
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will bring you into judgement. The drop of that hammer is what
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secures the text from being misunderstood.
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Let's talk about the Hebrew word for no there.
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It is yada. It implies an intimate,
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inescapable awareness. The preacher is establishing an
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absolute theological certainty that acts as a fence around the
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Garden of Joy. The young person is given
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expansive commands for heartfelt, embodied enjoyment.
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They are told to utilize their strength, their fresh intellect
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and their vitality. But this freedom is totally
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bounded by the soft and reality of divine judgment.
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Every single action, every pursued desire, every glance of
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the eyes, and every ambition of the heart will be weighed on the
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scales of divine justice. The sources point out that this
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judgment is comprehensive. It rescues joy from becoming
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self-destructive. If you remove the judgment
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clause, the command to follow your heart turns into the very
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idolatry that ruins human lives. It becomes the Antinomian lie.
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Right. Antinomianism literally means
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anti law. It is the dangerous idea that
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because grace exists, or because we are told to rejoice, the
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moral law of God no longer applies to our behavior.
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That lie tells you that your desire is its own justification.
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But when you place the terrifying reality of God's holy
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tribunal right at the boundary of your rejoicing, it purifies
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the joy. It forces the young person to
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ask, can I enjoy this specific thing while looking directly
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into the face of a holy God? If the answer is yes, then the
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joy is sanctified. If the answer is no, then the
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desire is exposed as a deadly trap.
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The knowledge of judgement is what keeps the young from
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squandering their fleeting vitality on things that incur
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the wrath of the Almighty. But wait, if I am being told
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that God is going to judge every single thing I do, every
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thought, every desire, every step I take, how can I possibly
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relax enough to actually rejoice?
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That is the big question. If I am constantly terrified
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that I'm going to step out of bounds and face the wrath of the
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Almighty, doesn't that just throw me right back into the
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legalistic anxiety we just condemned?
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Like it would. How does a person hold the
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tension of an absolute, comprehensive judgement without
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it paralyzing their ability to enjoy the sweetness of the
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light? The human brain struggles to
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compute those two things simultaneously, Extreme joy and
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extreme terror of judgement. What is the difference between a
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paralyzing threat and a loving boundary?
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Well, the difference lies in the character of the God who is
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judging. OK, unpack that for us.
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The legalist views God as a cosmic Thailand, waiting for an
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excuse to strike them down, which produces A paralyzing,
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servile terror. Right.
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But the biblical fear of God, what the theologians call
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reverentia, is the awe of a redeemed child before a Holy
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Father. The judgement clause is a loving
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boundary precisely because God designed the parameters of human
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flourishing. Think of a massive yard
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positioned right at the edge of a towering deadly If a child is
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playing in that yard without a fence, the absence of a barrier
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is not freedom, it is a death sentence.
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The child cannot run and play freely because they are
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constantly in danger of falling to their destruction.
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But when the father builds a massive, unmovable iron fence
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right at the edge of the Cliff, the child is suddenly free to
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Sprint, to laugh and to play with total abandoned within the
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yard. That is such a vivid picture.
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The fence of God's judgement declares that there are limits,
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there are behaviors and desires that lead to eternal ruin.
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By strictly warning the youth of this judgment, God is securing
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the safe space for legitimate joy.
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The knowledge of judgment says enjoy the marriage bed, but know
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that adultery brings damnation. Enjoy the fruit of your labor,
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but know that dishonest game brings a curve.
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Enjoy the sweetness of food and wine, but know that gluttony and
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drunkenness invite the wrath of God.
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The boundary does not eliminate the joy, It makes the joy
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sustainable and holy. It keeps the vapor from becoming
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toxic. True freedom is only found
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within the confines of God's moral law.
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Knowing that this judgement is real, and knowing that our time
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is a fleeting vapor, the text moves into highly practical,
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practical instructions on what we need to cut out of our lives
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immediately. Verse 10 demands that we remove
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vexation and put away pain. The author is looking at the
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ticking clock and telling us to drop the dead ways.
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The Hebrew noun for vexation is 'cause.
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This word covers a massive emotional spectrum grief, anger,
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frustration and resentment. And the command is to actively
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remove this from your heart. Then the text commands us to put
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away pain, the Hebrew word RA, from the body.
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This is talking about avoiding the physical miseries we inflict
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on ourselves through sin, through laziness, or even
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through overwork. And the justification for
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dropping this dead weight is tied to a specific phrase, the
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dawn of life. The text translates the Hebrew
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word shakaruth literally as black hair.
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It is this vivid, striking metaphor for the prime of life,
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before the Gray hairs of decline take over.
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The logic is impenetrable. Your black hair is fading fast,
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so why are you spending your precious, fleeting days nursing
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anger and ruining your body? The precision of those Hebrew
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terms is stunning when you connect them to our daily
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reality. Anger or cause literally drains
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the life right out of you. Think about the physiological
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mechanism of anger. When you harbor deep resentment,
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your body produces cortisol. Your blood pressure rises.
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You exist in a perpetual state of fight or flight.
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The angry, bitter person has zero capacity to recognize the
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sweetness of the light because their physiological and
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spiritual bandwidth is entirely consumed by their grievances.
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They are so fixated on perceived injustices that they squander
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the vapor. Nursing a grievance is a
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foolish, tragic waste of a remarkably brief window of
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vitality. The text is urging the reader to
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realize that the morning of life passes with shocking speed.
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When it commands us to put away physical pain, it is addressing
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the reality that our bodily choices have moral weight.
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Gluttony, sexual immorality, substance abuse, and even the
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sleepless striving for wealth. These things invite raw physical
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misery into our bodies. We accelerate our own decay
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through sin. The preacher is commanding us to
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stop sabotaging the gift. You do not have the luxury of
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spending your prime years feeding the habits that will
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steal your prime years. The dawn is beautiful precisely
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because it does not last. Therefore, to spend your youth
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steeped in bitterness or physical folly is the height of
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human madness. It is like deliberately
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strapping on a heavy backpack full of jagged rocks right
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before running a timed Sprint. Man, that sounds awful.
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Right, you only have a few seconds to run the race.
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The clock is already ticking, and instead of running free, you
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are loading yourself down with the heavy rocks of resentment,
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anxiety and self-inflicted misery.
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The race is way too short to carry useless weight.
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You have to take the backpack off and run.
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But if we look at the reality of total depravity, we have all
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strapped on the backpack. Every single one of us.
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We. Really have.
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If judgement is an absolute certainty, as verse 9
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established, and if we all wasted our time, harbored, cast
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in our hearts, and inflicted raw upon ourselves, we have a
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massive, terrifying problem. Solomon's diagnosis of the human
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condition is flawless, but it leaves us standing before the
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judgement seat with our hands empty and our hearts guilty.
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This requires us to move from the ancient wisdom of
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Ecclesiastes to the eternal cure found only in the Gospel.
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We have to look at how Jesus Christ answers the terrifying
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dilemma posed by Ecclesiastes 11.
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Jesus Christ is the sole and exclusive answer to this
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dilemma. Without a doubt, if we preach
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this text as simple moralism, if we just tell people to try
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harder, to be happy, to stop being angry, and to behave
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themselves because God is watching, we're delivering a
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message of absolute despair. The law can only condemn us.
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The commentaries point out with absolute clarity that Jesus
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fulfills every single facet of Ecclesiastes 11.
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First, he is the true light. While Solomon speaks of the
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sweetness of the physical son, the Gospel of John identifies
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Christ as the true light that gives light to everyone.
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Furthermore, the incarnation itself proves that physical
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bodies and earthly days actually matter to God.
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The Eternal Son took on human flesh.
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He passed through infancy, youth and adulthood.
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He lived the perfectly joyful totally life without wasting a
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single breath. His heart never followed A
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sinful path. His eyes never fed covetousness
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or pride. He experienced the prime of life
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perfectly. But the core of the gospel and
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the specific fulfillment of the judgement warned about in verse
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9 is found at the cross. The sources highlight the
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doctrine of definite atonement. This is the reality that Christ
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did not make salvation a mere possibility for a hypothetical
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group of people. He actually secured the
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salvation of His specific people.
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He stood in the place of the elect and took the terrifying,
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unmitigated judgment of God upon himself.
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He drank the full cup of the Father's wrath for our wasted
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days, for our bitterness, and for our idolatry.
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Because he definitely atoned for those specific sins.
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The judgement we rightfully feared has been completely
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exhausted. He died in the prime of life,
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not because he wasted his breath, but because we wasted
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ours so that we could drink the cup of eternal joy.
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Christ drank the cup of wrath so we could drink the cup of joy,
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and it does not end at the cross.
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Not at all. The resurrection is the ultimate
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answer to the vanity, the hebel of our fading black hair.
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Christ defeated the days of darkness.
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By rising bodily from the grave, He guaranteed that earthly life
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has meaning as a stewardship. It is not just a frantic,
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terrifying grab for permanence before we turn to dust.
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Because he conquered the grave, our labor in the Lord is not in
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vain. This means that when we read
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Ecclesiastes now on this side of the empty tomb, the command to
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rejoice is supercharged with eternal hope.
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We can enjoy the sunrise without demanding that it last forever
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because we know that the true and eternal light has already
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secured our future. This drives us away from our own
23:01
moral efforts and directly into the arms of the Savior who
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grants us the Holy Spirit to actually reorder our broken
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desires. The Holy Spirit takes the
23:08
finished work of Christ and applies it to the very heart
23:11
that Ecclesiastes addresses. By the Spirit, believers
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actually put to death sinful anger, anxiety, and bodily
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immorality. They learn true contentment.
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Armed with this gospel reality, we must bring these ancient
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commands into the specific cultural battles of today.
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The sources divide this application into 3 distinct
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categories. The youth, the aged in the
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church at large. For the youth, the command is
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stark. Repent of apathy.
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The modern world has designed 1000 ways to drain your vitality
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without you even noticing. The text demands that young
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people stop wasting their irreplaceable time on video
23:48
games, mindless scrolling through social media and the
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pursuit of digital vanity. You are burning daylight.
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The youth are commanded to use their physical vigor and their
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intellectual sharpness as deliberate tools for the Kingdom
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of God. Read the scriptures in the
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original languages, study theology, build strong families,
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and labor diligently. Your energy is not a toy, it is
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a weapon. We all fall prey to the endless
24:13
digital distraction. It is a shared human struggle
24:15
right now to look at a screen instead of looking at the sky.
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It forces you to ask yourself a very uncomfortable question.
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Are you spending your fleeting energy on temporary digital
24:25
approval, or are you utilizing that energy for something that
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actually outlasts the vapor? Because the clock is ticking
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either way. The black hair is fading while
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you are staring at the screen. But the text does not let the
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older generation off the hook either.
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No, it doesn't. For the aged, the sources are
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just as incisive. The command is to reject bitter
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nostalgia. We have all met older folks who
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seem to live entirely in the past, constantly pining for the
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good old days. Complaining that everything is
24:53
worse now and resenting the youth for having the energy they
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lost. That is a sinful refusal to
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embrace the current chapter God has written.
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The instruction here is to stop pining for the past.
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Instead, the agent are called to teach the young to pray with
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absolute urgency and to recognize that the light they
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have today is still sweet. Old age is a final classroom for
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wisdom, not a waiting room for bitterness.
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And then we moved to the application for the Church as an
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institution, which the sources address with incredible force.
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The institutional applications derived from this text are
25:25
robust. The commentaries reject the
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modern pragmatic, seeker sensitive models of church
25:30
growth. These models explicitly cater to
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the cult of youth by turning the holy worship of God into
25:36
juvenile entertainment. When a church replaces the
25:38
weight of biblical truth with smoke machines, concert lighting
25:42
and shallow self help sermons to attract a younger demographic,
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it mimics the world's obsession with youth and abandons its
25:49
mandate. The Church is the pillar and
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buttress of the truth, not a purveyor of secular appeasement.
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Furthermore, the sources explicitly reject the prosperity
25:58
gospel. The prosperity gospel promises
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perpetual health, wealth, and youthfulness right here under
26:03
the sun. It is a devastating theological
26:06
error because it leaves people utterly unprepared for the days
26:10
of darkness that Ecclesiastes guarantees will come.
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When the physical body inevitably breaks down when the
26:15
cancer diagnosis arrives, the prosperity gospel offers no
26:19
comfort, only accusation. The sources also provide a
26:23
strong critique of modern social ideologies that are driven by
26:27
perpetual grievance and anger. Any system that teaches people
26:30
to enshrine their vexation, their 'cause as a core component
26:34
of their identity stands in direct opposition to the
26:36
biblical command to actively remove vexation from the heart.
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The Church must continually point its people away from false
26:43
promises of earthly utopias and away from the poison of
26:47
perpetual bitterness. Directing them instead toward
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the overarching theme of divine accountability and sovereign
26:53
grace. It is a complete recalibration
26:55
of how we view our existence. We are commanded to seize the
26:58
day, but to do so with our eyes fixed entirely on the throne of
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God. It completely shatters the
27:04
illusions we build to comfort ourselves.
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We are pointed toward a final provocative thought regarding
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the imminent return of Christ. We are not just waiting for our
27:12
own personal clocks to run out, we are waiting for the King.
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The the eschatological herp is that Christ will return and
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believers will stand before the Bema seat.
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The Bema seat is a specific theological term referring to
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the judgment seat of Christ where the redeemed are
27:28
evaluated. Not for their eternal salvation,
27:30
because that was secured at the cross, but for the purpose of
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being rewarded by the grace of the Savior for what they did
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with their fleeting time. The king is coming and he is not
27:40
going to wait for people to finish chasing the wind.
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He is not going to delay his arrival so you can finish
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building your little earthly sand castles.
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The stopwatch of human history is counting down to a specific,
27:51
sovereignly decreed 0 point. The return of Christ is the
27:55
final guarantee that our stewardship of time actually
27:58
matters. If you belong to Him, the
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setting of your earthly son is not a tragedy, it is the
28:04
glorious Rd. into the everlasting day of resurrection.
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It means that the joyful obedience you rendered in your
28:10
youth, the vexation you fought to put to death in your
28:13
adulthood, and the faithful prayers you offered in your old
28:16
age are all seen, weighed, and rewarded by the King who
28:20
redeemed your breath. He will gather the fragments of
28:22
our lives into His eternal. But the urgency of this reality
28:26
cannot be overstated. We must not delay our obedience.
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The warning is severe for those who presume they have limitless
28:32
time to repent and submit to God.
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The stopwatch is ticking. And the mist is vanishing from
28:37
the jar. You cannot pause it and you
28:38
cannot contain it. So true.
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So we leave you with this final, urgent encouragement.
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Do not offer God the leftovers of your breath.
28:46
Do not wait until your strength is gone, your hair is Gray, and
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the days of darkness have arrived to finally acknowledge
28:53
the Creator. Surrender your fleeting,
28:55
vaporous days to Him right now, while the light is still sweet
28:59
to your eyes. Thank you for joining us on this
29:02
deep dive. We will catch you next time on
29:04
Reformed Thinking.