The final chapter of Ecclesiastes exhorts young people to remember God before the challenges of old age set in and certainly before death occurs. Verses 6 and 7 poignantly describe death this way; “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, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
In that final refrain, the Preacher has left metaphor and begun to describe reality. When we die, our body begins to decompose and return to dust, yet our spirit returns to God. That is either a beautiful or a terrible thought. If we have wasted the gift of life God granted, we will face His judgment. But if we remember our God, trust in Him, and obey Him, then what a wondrous day it will be when our spirit is reunited with our Creator!