The Power of His Presence

Daily Devotions

From the Writings of Ray Stedman

Before Its Too Late

February 27th

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

It is hard to find the answer to life when you're old. Statistics indicate that most people who come to Christ come to Him while they are relatively young. Ninety-five percent of all believers come to Christ before they are fifty years old, and most of those before they are thirty. The Searcher tells us: "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth."

Remembering God does not mean merely thinking about Him once in awhile. It means to relate to Him, walk with Him, discover Him, learn to know Him while you are young. There are two excellent reasons given for this. First, because "days of trouble are coming." Old age is setting in, and one of the characteristics of old age is that we lose our ability to change and to learn new things; we are subjected to greater pressures. Those days become "days of trouble."

Temptation is all around us; it is subtle, it is powerful. The appeal of the world and the flesh is constantly with us, turning thousands of young people away from the truth of God. But it gets worse the older you grow. The pressures to conform are greater as you move out into life and business; when you become parents, when you become breadwinners and have to establish homes, the pressures to conform, to fit in with all the ways of the world, will be far more intense than they are when you are still in high school or college. Evil pressures increase; that is one good reason to remember your Creator in the days of your youth.

Then, second, your motivations are highest now. The Searcher says days are coming "when you will say, 'I find no pleasure in them.'" That is, when you will say, "I'm not motivated at all." One of the signs of age is its unwillingness to change. I have often observed the tragedy of people who have acknowledged the fact that they had missed the secret of life, but they were unwilling to change simply because it was so hard to do so when they were old. This is why the Searcher exhorts young people, "Learn about God now. Learn the Scriptures now, when you are young, while motivation is high and evil pressures are fewer."

We have a wonderful example of this in our Lord Jesus. He grew up in a godly home, exposed to the truth of the Scripture. The only thing that is recorded of Him in those days is given in the words, "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" (Luke 2:52). He manifested such wisdom that when He was only twelve years old He astonished the teachers in the temple, asking them penetrating questions they could not answer. Then He went back with His mother and father to finish His boyhood in that home in Nazareth, having "remembered His Creator in the days of His youth."

Lord, teach me to remember You, my Creator, in these days of temptation. By Your grace, let me grow in favor with God and man.

This daily devotion was inspired by one of Ray's sermons. Please read "Before It's Too Late" (or listen to the audio file  ) for more on this portion of scripture.