Chasing after the Wind...

...if I somehow caught it, where would I keep it?

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" 

says the Teacher. 

 "Utterly meaningless! 

Everything is meaningless."

Ecclesiastes 1:2

So, I'm stuck.  I am stuck in Ecclesiastes in my Bible reading.  Oh, the wisdom of King Solomon. I don't know if I had ever put together the whole story of Ecclesiastes before now...

Jerusalem was at war, all the men away fighting, yet their King, David chose to stay behind. (2 Samuel 11) In his moment of weakness he called Bathsheba to his house.  Both of them loved God - David is even called "a man after God's heart."  Yet, both of them fell to temptation, and not just this once.  After Bathsheba conceived a child, David planned her husband's death, so that they could be together.  So David was clearly a sinner. (isn't it encouraging to know that God loves us even though we continue to sin?)

Bathsheeba's children were raised differently than David's children by his other wives - hers were raised in the temple, the priest Nathan being their mentor.  When it came time for David to appoint the next king, amidst much disapproval by his other sons, his God fearing son Solomon was his choice.  So, David established Soloman, Bathsheba's son as his successor.

I don't know what details Solomon knew about his past - but it is evident in his writing that he did love and fear God.  It is also clear that he had every luxury one could have.  

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." - Matthew 6:28-29

Solomon had everything...

"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."

But, in all his things, and project, and titles, and wealth, he found that...

"...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."

He writes that his work was in vain, his things were in vain, even his wisdom and knowledge were in vain, that all things on the Earth were and are "chasing after the wind."

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;" 

God has placed inside our hearts a knowledge and desire for Him - He has placed eternity in our hearts. But... 

"yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

So, what's the point?

"I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him." 3:11-14

"So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?" 3:22

"Sow your seed in the morning,
       and at evening let not your hands be idle, 
       for you do not know which will succeed, 

whether this or that, 

or whether both will do equally well."

-11:6

For me, this all means to ACCEPT the lot God has given me, to WORK hard, to choose JOY in all things, to PRAISE God for all things in His creation.  I have realized that things being "fair" or "good" is irrelevant - it's a waste of time to debate.  We should praise God for what He has given us - remembering that the perfection of our faith, our sanctification, and NOT our happiness is the goal.