Ecclesiastes: Wisdom to Live for Heaven While on EarthSample

Did you catch that phrase “chasing the wind” in vs. 14? Solomon continuously comes back to this imagery throughout Ecclesiastes. If you’re a visual learner and happen to be a parent of kids with a lot of energy, send them out to chase the wind sometime and watch. Not only will they run aimlessly without ever catching anything, they’ll get exhausted in the process.

Wind is something you can’t grab or maintain. And just like your kids will get exhausted running around your yard, chasing the wind, the same will happen to us if we chase the world and what it has to offer us. Because the world is broken because of sin, nothing here will ever be able to satisfy us.

It’s a vicious cycle, and it’s one that is all too easy to get caught up in. In fact, you may be entangled in it right now and not even know it.

Here’s a quick check to see if you are: Go back to 10 years ago. Think about what you wanted then. Maybe you wanted to graduate from high school and move out on your own. Maybe you desired a spouse. Maybe you were married and you wanted kids. Whatever you wanted, the same principle remains: you probably believed:

“If I had ____________, I would be content.”

I’d venture to guess that you currently have many of the things you believed would make you happy 10 years ago. But even though you have them, you’re likely not satisfied.

Solomon, who's gotten a bad rep for being the greatest pessimist of all time, actually, in his kindness and wisdom, is begging you to step out of the hamster wheel and recognize that “what is crooked cannot be made straight.”

In other words, what is broken [this world] can’t piece you back together. Only God can do that.

God, I know that You are all that will truly satisfy me. Forgive me for believing that anything this world could offer me would bring me any form of satisfaction. Help me to stop looking to the world for contentment and to make You the sole Source of my satisfaction. Amen.