Remember Your Creator and His Love
Memory Verse Ecclesiastes 12:1a, 13b, 14 {<[Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.] Fear God and keep His commandments,> for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.} (NIV) Song of Songs 2:4 {
Introduction Last week we studied the book of Proverbs by Solomon. We learned that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Today we want to study two other books he wrote—Ecclesiastes (ee-clee-si-AS-tees) and Song of Songs. Chronologically, it may very well be that Solomon wrote the Song of Songs in his youth, Proverbs in his middle age, and Ecclesiastes in his advanced years. But God placed them in the specific order we find in the Bible to show us that we need to have wisdom first. From wisdom comes the understanding that everything under the sun is vanity (Ecclesiastes). Then, He moves us into the heavenly realm where we experience the reality of the love of God in Christ Jesus (Song of Songs).
Lesson and Application for the SR and MD Classes
(1) Solomon’s observation about life. (Ecclesiastes 1:1—2:11) The name “Ecclesiastes” means an assembly, a gathering of people together to hear some teaching. Solomon called himself the teacher or the preacher because he had something very important to teach or preach to those who read or heard his words. In our lesson on Proverbs, we learned that Solomon was very wise. But he did not follow his own advice. For a time, he did not have the fear of the Lord. Instead he did his own thing. He told us that he devoted himself to find out what life is all about. He carefully observed (looked at) how people lived and the things that happened to them. He not only observed, he also experienced a great deal himself. Whatever he thought of, he tried; whatever pleasures he wanted, he got. He undertook great projects. He built houses and planted gardens and parks. He had many slaves, much gold and silver, and a great deal of possessions. He tried to find happiness, but there was none. So he said, “When I looked at everything I had tried, it was all so useless. It was like chasing the wind! There is nothing really worthwhile anywhere.” His conclusion was, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” Vanity means empty and useless. Solomon found that there is no real happiness in life. People who do not know the Lord also find this same lack, even children and young people. Let us look at Jimmy. There was a new toy that just came on the market. Jimmy heard about it and wished very much he could have that toy. He felt that he would be really happy if only he could have it. After some time, he got one. Perhaps he talked his parents into 1 Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs buying it or he bought it himself with some money he got as a birthday gift. Jimmy was very happy and showed off the toy to all his friends. After a while the novelty (newness) wore off. The toy did not give him happiness anymore. Then Jimmy saw his friend wearing some new fashionable clothes. How he wished he could dress like that! It went on and on, one thing after another. Jimmy could not feel satisfied. He was chasing after the wind, as Solomon said. Could he catch the wind? Of course not. Do you think this is what God has in mind for us? To be unhappy and dissatisfied most of the time? No. To understand why many people are unhappy, we need to know how God made human beings. Do you remember from Genesis that we were created in His likeness and according to His image? Solomon tells us in 3:11, “God has set eternity in the hearts of men.” Brother Lance Lambert explained it this way: “God has put a God-shaped blank (an empty spot) in each one of us.” It is like the spot for a particular jig-saw puzzle piece. If we try to put anything other than God in that blank, it will not fit. When we do not have God in us, we can never be satisfied. After Adam was created, God put him in the garden of Eden. (Eden means pleasure.) In the midst of that garden was the Tree of Life. If Adam had eaten the fruit of that tree, he would have filled that blank in him with God’s life. He would have lived happily thereafter. But God never forced Adam (nor us) to do what was right. He gave Adam a choice. You know what happened. Adam did not eat of the Tree of Life. Instead, he ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had told him not to eat. Adam rejected (did not choose) what God wanted for him. He disobeyed God. He chose to be independent from God. This is sin. Sin entered into the world by Adam’s disobedience. Since then, everyone has been born in sin. Sin blocks God from coming into us to fill that blank because God can never live inside a sinful person. That is why we say sin separates people from God. There seems to be no hope; we are doomed to be miserable. But, thank God, He made a way. The Lord Jesus came and died on the Cross. He removed that barrier of sin. The Lord Jesus comes into the heart of every person who comes to God, confesses that he is a sinner and accepts what the Lord Jesus has done. Then the Lord Jesus fills that blank. Whoever has the life of the Lord Jesus in him is a child of God. He or she belongs to God’s big family. Then, he can really be happy. Life is no longer vanity as Solomon thought, but it is all worthwhile.
(2) God makes everything beautiful in its time. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11) As Solomon looked at life, he found out that there is a time for everything. For everyone, there is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to weep and a time to laugh. There are happy times and there are sad times. For those who know the Lord, “He makes everything beautiful in its time” (3:11). In the Bible, the story of Joseph shows us how God made everything beautiful. You know that Joseph’s father loved him very much and gave him a special robe of many colors. That made his older brothers very jealous of him. One day Jacob sent Joseph to his brothers, who were out in the countryside with the flocks. At first, some of his brothers wanted to kill him. Finally, they sold Joseph to some traders, who were going down to Egypt. Joseph was only 17 years old when he became a slave in a 2 Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs foreign country. It must have been very hard for him. He must have been scared because he could not understand what the people were saying. But the Bible tells us that the Lord was with him. Later on Joseph was put into prison for something he did not do. He must have felt very sad. Maybe he wept a lot. But he believed that God would make everything beautiful in its time. You know what happened. The Lord gave Joseph wisdom to interpret dreams. After he explained the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams, Pharaoh made him prime minister of Egypt. God gave Joseph wisdom to store up the excess (extra) grain during the 7 years of plentiful harvest. When the famine came, Joseph was able to provide food for his father, brothers and all their families, as well as all the Egyptians. Joseph forgave his brothers and said to them (Genesis 45:5), “Do not be distressed (upset) and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here. God sent me ahead of you in order to save lives.” God did make everything beautiful in His time. Joseph became a very important and wealthy person in Egypt. Not only that, he had a part in God’s purpose in preserving the lives of his brother Judah and his family. Thousands of years later, our Lord Jesus came as a descendant of Judah. There are times when we do not understand why or how things happen. We have to remember that we are very, very small compared to God. As Ecclesiastes 11:5 tells us, “We cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” But we do believe that no matter what happens, God is in control, just as He was with Joseph. We can trust Him to make everything beautiful in its time. We can be sure that “everything God does will endure (last) forever,” as Solomon says in 3:14.
(3) Solomon’s advice on how to live a happy life. (Ecclesiastes 11:9—12:1,13,14) Even though Solomon saw many things that seemed to be vanity, he finally found the secret for a happy life. He tells us that it is to “fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13). Solomon had much wisdom and wealth. He had everything that he wanted. But he was not happy because he did not fear God and did not keep His commandments. Instead, Solomon followed his foreign wives and worshipped idols. Then he realized how foolish he was. He said (4:13), “A poor, yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king.” Solomon wished he could do it all over again, but he could not turn time back. Those years were all wasted. He could not change what he had done. He knew that God will bring every deed (action of ours) into judgment, including the things done in secret, whether it is good or evil. The Lord never wants us to be miserable; so do not believe the lies of Satan. Remember what Paul said to us in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” The Lord wants you to have joy in your life, but you should “remember your Creator in the days of your youth” as Solomon says in 12:1. Since the Lord Jesus is both our Creator and our Savior, we should add, “Remember your Savior also.” The Lord created you and saved you with a purpose. He has a special plan for your life. Many of those who have been greatly used of the Lord chose to remember their Creator and Savior from their childhood. Solomon says in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and 3 Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs when he is old he will not turn from it.” Therefore, what you learn now as a child is very important. If you learn to fear the Lord (remember the meaning of fear that you learned last week) and to do those things that please Him now, it will be easy to continue in that way when you grow up. You will not be easily tempted to go astray and do things that displease the Lord. Your life will be full of joy. That joy comes from knowing that the Lord smiles with approval on what you do. If you fear Him today, you need not fear the day of His judgment, because you will hear Him say, “Well done.”
(4) Solomon also wrote Song of Songs. Solomon wrote not only proverbs but many songs. The one in the Bible is called the Song of Songs. It is a story about a shepherd-king and a shepherdess. It gives us a picture of the love our Lord Jesus has toward each one of us. It may be hard for boys to think of themselves as the bride of the shepherd-king. But the Lord Jesus is coming back very soon to take His Bride to be with Himself. All those who are loved by the Lord and who love the Lord will be in the Bride. The picture of a bride and a bridegroom can help us to remember that the Lord Jesus loves us, just as a bridegroom loves his bride. He wants us to love Him, just as a bride loves her bridegroom. The shepherd-king had a vineyard and rented it out to keepers. The keepers were probably from a family with a mother but no father, and at least two brothers and two sisters. The older sister is the “Cinderella” of the story. Her brothers did not treat her well. They made her work in the vineyard and look after the sheep in the wilderness. One day, while she was watching her flock, she looked up and saw a tall, handsome shepherd looking at her. She was embarrassed and said, “Don’t look at me. I am so sun-burned and so dark.” But he said, “You are beautiful to me.” As she told her friends later, the shepherd-king brought her to his banquet hall and he placed a banner of love over her. She was very happy because the shepherd-king loved her very much. Do you know we are like that shepherdess? There is nothing lovely in us, but the Lord Jesus loves us anyway. That shepherdess was rather self-centered. She said, “He is mine” (2:16). She always thought about herself first. One day the shepherd-king came to see her. She did not even bother to open the door for him. Her excuse was that she had washed her feet and she did not want to get her feet dirty by going to the door. That was no way to treat someone she loved. Do you know we are like that also? The Lord Jesus says in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Sometimes we want to do our own thing, and it is as if we tell the Lord to go away. So He has to knock at the door. When she finally realized that she was wrong, she got up to open the door. By then he was gone. In order to help her not be self-centered, the shepherd-king left the shepherdess for a while. So she went out looking for him. She was no longer thinking about herself. She told some of her friends, “I belong to him.” (6:3) Immediately, the shepherd-king came to her side. The Lord wants to teach us that we need to put Him first, not ourselves. In that way, we really show Him that we love Him. The reason that we love Him is because He loves us first. 4 Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs
Lesson and Application for the PM and PS Classes
(1) Remember your Creator. Last week we studied the book of Proverbs. Do you remember the wise man who wrote it? He was Solomon. Today we want to learn something from two other books he wrote. These books are called Ecclesiastes (ee-clee-si-AS-tees) and the Song of Songs. The word “Ecclesiastes” means a gathering together of people, like what we do on Sunday, to hear a teacher tell us something. Solomon was the teacher. He had something very important to tell us. To young people and children, Solomon said, “Remember your Creator while you are still young.” He also said, “Fear God and keep His commandments. This is the most important thing people can do.” Who is your Creator? The Lord Jesus. He made you, so you belong to Him. The Lord Jesus is also your Savior. He bought you for Himself with His precious blood. Do you remember two weeks ago we talked about how the Lord made you special for Him? Inside each of us, God created a special part called the spirit. It is like a special room in a house. It was empty when you were born. The Lord wants to come and live in there with you. The Donut Man says that we are like donuts—we have a hole in us where God belongs. If we have the Lord in us, He gives us joy. Then we can be happy. People who do not know the Lord Jesus do not have Him in them. No matter how they try, they can never be truly happy, like Jimmy. Jimmy didn’t know the Lord Jesus. He was not a very happy boy. He heard about a new toy and wanted very much to have one. He thought that he would be really happy if only he could have that toy. After a while, he got one. (Maybe he talked his parents into buying it for him.) Jimmy was happy and showed off the toy to all his friends. After a while, that toy did not seem very special anymore. Jimmy wanted something else. Then he saw his friend wearing some new fancy clothes. How he wished he could dress like that! On and on it went; he wanted one thing after another. Jimmy couldn’t feel satisfied. Do you know why? It was because he didn’t have the Lord Jesus in him. But a child who belongs to the Lord is thankful for all the good things the Lord has given to him. That makes him content and happy, unlike Jimmy. Solomon found that out himself. For many years, he was very unwise. He forgot God. He tried to be happy with many things, but he was miserable. As a king, he could have whatever he wanted. He ate good food, but that didn’t make him happy. He got more gold and silver, more palaces, and other things; but, he still was not happy. He tried new hobbies. It was fun for a little while, then he became bored again. Finally he realized that to be happy is to fear God. That means to do what pleases the Lord. When God is happy, He makes us happy also. So, we can be happy if we remember our Creator and our Savior. Then we will remember to do those things that please Him. When He is pleased, we are pleased.
(2) God makes all things beautiful. Solomon tells us that there is a time for everything. A baby is born, and some older people pass away. There are happy times, and there are sad times. If we are God’s
5 Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs children, He makes everything beautiful in its time. He can turn our sad times into happy times. In the Bible, the story of Joseph shows us how God makes everything beautiful. Joseph was one of Jacob’s sons. Jacob loved him very much and gave him a special robe of many colors. That made his older brothers very jealous of him. One day Jacob sent Joseph to his brothers, who were out in the countryside with their sheep. At first, some of his brothers wanted to kill him. Finally they sold Joseph to some traders, who were going down to Egypt. Joseph was only 17 years old. He became a slave in a foreign country. He couldn’t understand what the people said. He must have been scared. But the Bible tells us that the Lord was with him. Later on Joseph was put into prison for something he did not do. He must have felt very sad. Maybe he even cried. But he believed that God would make everything beautiful in its time. The Lord gave Joseph wisdom to interpret (explain) dreams. After he explained the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams, Pharaoh made Joseph prime minister (the most important official) of Egypt. God gave Joseph wisdom to store up the extra grain during the 7 years of plentiful (very good) harvest. Then the drought (no rain) came. Famine (no food) was everywhere because farmers could not grow any food. Because Joseph had stored up the extra grain, there was plenty of food in Egypt. Joseph’s father, brothers and all their families came to Egypt. How wonderful and joyful it must have been when Joseph saw his father again. Joseph gave them land in the best part of Egypt so they could live near him. He gave them plenty to eat. Joseph also forgave his brothers for what they did to him. He knew that God had sent him ahead to Egypt so that his father, brothers and even the Egyptians would not die from starvation when there was no food. Sometimes we do not understand why things happen. But we believe that no matter what happens, God is in charge. We can trust Him to make everything beautiful in its time. He loves us, and He always has the best for us.
(3) God’s great love. Sometimes people feel unhappy because they think no one loves them. In Song of Songs, Solomon tells a story about a shepherd-king and a shepherdess. It gives us a picture of God’s love. It may be hard for boys to think about being a bride but this story of a bride and a bridegroom helps us remember that the Lord loves us as a bridegroom loves his bride. He wants us to love Him as a bride loves her bridegroom. The shepherd-king had a vineyard. He rented it to a family with a mother and some brothers and sisters. The older sister is like “Cinderella.” Her brothers made her look after the sheep. One day, while she was watching her flock, she looked up and saw a tall, handsome shepherd looking at her. The shepherd-king took her to his banquet hall and put a banner of love over her. She was very happy because the shepherd-king loved her so much. We are like the shepherdess. The Lord brought us into His banquet hall too. He put a banner over us saying, “I love you.” How do we know the Lord loves us? He showed us His love when He died for you and me on the Cross. The Bible tells us, those whom the Lord loves, He loves them to the end. We can be very happy because we are loved. 6 Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs
Activities
SR Class: Give each student the prepared form with the memory verse and lesson outline for today’s lesson. Have the students take notes during the lesson presentation.
The activity—“Solomon Writes Wise Sayings” may be done at home in addition to homework.
MD Class: Give each student the prepared paper with today’s memory verse. Have the student copy the memory verse. Have the student write down a few key words from today’s lesson on the board. Then copy them on the paper under the section “Bible Words.”
Do the word-find activity—“ Solomon Writes Wise Sayings.”
When completed, have the students put the papers into their folders. Collect the folders. They will be given back to the students later.
PM Class: Give each child a piece of paper with today’s memory verse. Have the student copy the memory verse and learn the memory verse together.
Do the decoding activity—Ecclesiastes 12:1,13.
Collect the papers from the children and insert in their folders. The folders will be given out later.
Help each child make a banner with a long piece of paper. Help each child write “His Banner Over Me Is Love. Song of Songs 2:4” on the paper and decorate it with hearts. The children can hang the banner in their rooms at home.
PS Class: Learn today’s memory verse.
Make the “Bird and Butterfly Mobile.” See instructions attached. Or make the banner like the PM class. Write the verse on the banner ahead of time. Cut out construction paper hearts for the children to glue onto the banner.
Sing with the children “His Banner Over Me Is Love” from Wee Sing Bible Songs, p.34, and some other appropriate songs.
7 Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs
His banner over
me is love.
Song of Songs 2:4
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