Most appropriately, therefore, King Solomon calls attention to the one whom youths should make the focal point of their lives. He states: “Remember, now, your Grand Creator in the days of your young manhood, before the calamitous days proceed to come, or the years have arrived when you will say: ‘I have no delight in them’; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds have returned, afterward the downpour.”​—Eccl. 12:1, 2.

There is no better time to think seriously about the Creator than when a person is in his prime, when he can really give the very best in the service of the Most High. That ability wanes during the “calamitous days” of old age when the body is weak and ailing. Especially the person who has wasted his youth will “have no delight” in the declining years of his life. Solomon likens the time of youth to the Palestinian summer when sun, moon and stars shed their light from a cloudless sky. In old age that time is gone and the days are like the cold, rainy season of winter, with one downpour of trouble followed by another.

Truly wise is the youth who uses his time and energies well in serving the Creator. He will have no regrets about this in adult life and will be in a far better position to cope with loss of physical strength. Besides, by living in harmony with the Creator’s commands, he is safeguarded against losing his health and vigor prematurely.