A Chasing After the Wind

I have come to really appreciate Solomon’s thoughts in Ecclesiastes. To me this book clearly asks the question, “What is the meaning of life?” Here is a man that has everything. Everything his imagination could think of and yet he ultimately sees it as “a chasing after the wind”. I love that phrase. It says more to me than I can express in words.

Maybe because I am 75. Maybe because I see the pain of life struggles all around me. Maybe because God has allowed me to see into the lives of people that are really hurting. People that don’t have Solomon’s lot in life. People that life has kicked hard. The thing I do know to be true is we all eventually ask the question, “What is it all about?”

The “glitter” of this world seems so enticing and yet always comes up empty. You buy a house. You are all excited for a while, but then the water heater breaks down and the never-ending maintenance begins. You buy a new car, but three years later it is not so new. Everything that was once new becomes old and the “glitter” wears off. We continue this cycle from thing to thing, from new to old, from excitement to reality. What Solomon so clearly expressed as “a chasing after the wind”.

Now at the age of 75, I agree with him more than ever. This world is fleeting. God’s Kingdom is eternal. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor, not your job or your house or your car. Family, friends and people God puts on our path are all that matters eternally. Everything else, though necessary for life on earth, is truly “a chasing after the wind”, if we focus solely on them.

I believe if we see all our possessions as His and ourselves as stewards of His stuff, we won’t be “chasing” it, we will just use it as He leads to accomplish His purposes. I believe that was the conclusion Solomon came to. He concluded his writing with this.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

May our Lord help us have a clear Kingdom focus.