Chasing the Wind
I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:13–14)
As we learned previously, many years ago there lived a king who decided he would write in a journal what he had discovered about life. His father, David, had left a rather large estate in his care. His father had fought the battles and now the son Solomon enjoyed peace—forty years of it. Imagine! He ruled four decades over a nation free of war.
Instead of money being poured into the war machine, peacetime money was available . . . and Solomon used it to finance his pursuits to discover life. One day, after the pursuit was over and done with, he sat down and wrote in his journal the truth about all he had discovered. There’s not one lie in his book. I should warn you, however, it is not your basic Here’s How to Be Rich and Famous volume. But it is trustworthy information all the world needs to read.
The king’s journal, as we have seen, has one basic premise. He doesn’t make us wait until the end of the book to read it. He says it right at the beginning.
“Vanity of vanities,” says the speaker. “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
In Hebrew literature, when the same word is repeated even once, it is for the purpose of emphasis. It is like our exclamation point. It is as though Solomon wants to declare the superlative, “Super vain! Completely empty! Nothing to it!” Or, in today’s terms, ‘‘Apathy rules!”
A couple of ideas emerge from between the lines of Solomon’s journal:
1. If there is nothing but nothing under the sun, our only hope must be above it. Are you willing to go that far with me? If there’s nothing but nothing under the sun, then our source of hope must be beyond it.
2. If a man who had everything investigated everything visible, then the one thing needed must be invisible. Can you agree with that? Solomon explored every visible realm of stimulation yet found no satisfaction. It seems only logical that the satisfaction he searched for will come only from that which is invisible.
Do you realize how few people really see the invisible? The only way you will find satisfaction is in believing the invisible. It’s in trusting the inaudible. His name is Jesus Christ. He wants to rule your life. Why should apathy rule if He is available?
Taken from Living on the Ragged Edge by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 1985, 2004 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com
