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10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 2: 10-11
I hate experiments. I always have. Freshman and sophomore year in college were the worst for me: Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. Our laboratory experiment’s always frustrated me, I never could see the bigger picture: what we were testing, why we were testing it, or what we were looking for. None of it ever made sense to me. I couldn’t see the forest or the trees (seven years later and I still don’t know what a titration is).
Now my wife, she was a different story. Chemistry labs were a breeze for her. She even liked organic chemistry (ask your doctor, he probably got a C+ in organic chemistry).
Solomon? He was more like my wife.
When he conducted an experiment he knew EXACTLY what he was doing.
When he says he denied himself nothing his eyes desired and refused his heart no pleasure, he meant it.
He conducted an experiment to see if he could find fulfillment under the sun, to see if he could find pleasure and happiness from the things of this world. And what an experiment it was – Solomon had over 1,000 wives and concubines!
And what did it bring him? Joy? Satisfaction? That warm and fuzzy feeling deep down inside? Far from it. He says in chasing vain pleasures, he felt as though he were actually chasing the wind. In giving himself everything there was to give, he had actually gained nothing.
So, what are we to desire? What pleasure should our hearts seek?
3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
- Psalm 37: 3-6
14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind
Ecclesiastes 1: 14
I get this really funny image in my head, and I picture this group of people running back and forth in this giant field on a really windy day and they have these nets because they are trying to chase the wind.
But then I see these two kids wander in: they are in their mid-twenties and look happy, they just got married and are venturing out into the real world by themselves for the first time. At first they look content to sit together and enjoy the sunshine and the breezes. They packed a lunch and just want to sit together. But they feel really out of place, nobody else is content with just sitting around, everybody in the big group is just running around trying to get ahead of the person next to them.
And that’s the goofy part I just can’t wrap my mind around; why are they chasing the wind? Don’t they know they can’t catch it? There are just going to exhaust themselves for no reason. They are neglecting their friends, their families…everything to try and get farther ahead than the person next to them, get farther ahead in the chase that will never end, in the race that will never be over.
Too often I find myself in the crowd, trying to be like everybody else and then some, trying to get ahead. I know the race will never end and I will never be satisfied, but I still run.
Too often I find myself wishing I were just sitting in the grass, enjoying the sunshine and the breeze, not being like everybody else and really being ok with it, satisfied to be still.
But what if I could just stop. Stop running and stop chasing after something I will never catch, something that will never fulfill me.
The good Lord has surrounded us with so many blessings, so much to be thankful for and so much to enjoy. But I am too busy running the race with the rest of the world.
Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Another translation says we are to cease striving.
But if I were to be honest with myself, I am much too busy to be still, and a lot of the time I really don’t desire to know God.
Oh, to sit and be still. How I would love to rest, and relish in the knowledge that the Savior of my soul and Lord of my life desires that I would simply sit, and know Him.
Sorry, can’t do that. I’ve got a race to run and the wind to catch. Eventually it will stop running and I’ll have time to sit awhile. But not today.
Ecclesiastes 1: 1-11
5The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
Ecclesiastes 1: 5-7
I am eternally thankful this world is not my home; I am but a stranger passing through: an alien… a pilgrim… a traveler. I fear the meaningless, purposeless repetition of life; I fear getting caught in the trap of treating my circumstances as the final defining line on my life.
The sun will continue to rise and continue to set; the wind will always blow – though we will never know from whence it comes or where it goes. The streams will empty into the oceans, the stream never running dry and the ocean never filling up.
Our existence can seem tragically aimless, purposeless, and unfulfilling. I am tempted to question whether I am cursed like Cain to hopelessly meander about the earth, hidden from my Father’s presence and a restless wanderer (Genesis 4: 12-14).
Too often do I question God as to the purpose of my situation. Too often do I view circumstances as nothing more than troubling, wearisome, worrisome, and aimless.
My life’s meaning is hidden from me, until I look beyond my life. The sun will rise and set forever, but who is it that calls the sun from its shadowy slumber to a glorious appearing on the horizon each morning? The wind blows, what does it matter if I don’t understand why; how often do I thank my Jesus for the precious breath it brings me?
The streams will never cease to pour forth water, because our God will never cease to provide for us. The oceans will never be full because they are like my heart, unless God fills it with His grace, mercy, and truth, it will forever be lacking and wanting.
Our lot in life is not to question God, but to take His provisions graciously and strive for His glory, that others would not just see Him, but desire to seek Him (Acts 17: 24-28).
What if, for one second, I looked beyond my own circumstances; what if I looked beyond myself? How often do I seek God’s face? How often do I yearn for His perspective? How desperate am I truly for an awareness of His presence in my life?
How great is the God we serve? How gracious of Him to provide clothes to wear, food to eat, shelter to live under, and opportunities every day whereby we are privileged to share Him with others?
The question is not, “God, why am I here right now?” but instead, “God, how might you be glorified in the attitudes of my heart and the actions of my life in any and every circumstance you orchestrate for me?”
