Thought for Today - May 13, 2023
Chasing the Wind
By: Robert A. Searles
Are you trying to find joy, happiness, peace and ful.filment in everything that is worldly, apart from God? Are you chasing the wind and never able to catch it? Listen to what the preacher has to say
All Is Vanity
The words of the Teacher,son of David, king in Jerusalem: "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is
there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It
was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 1 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
The Experience of the Preacher
I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I
applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done
under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. I
said to myself, "Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who
has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom
and knowledge." Then
I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness
and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.
1 I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. "Laughter," I said, "is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?" I
tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly-my mind still
guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do
under the heavens during the few days of their lives. 4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I
bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my
house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem
before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well-the delights of a man's heart. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I
denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all
my toil. 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.
Then
I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly.
What more can the king's successor do than what has already be I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The
wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both. Then
I said to myself, "The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What
then do I gain by being wise?" I said to myself, "This too is
meaningless." For
the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have
already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too
must die!
So
I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous
to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And
who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will
have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my
effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For
a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must
leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is
meaningless and a great misfortune. What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. A
person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find
satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of
God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?To
the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness,
but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth
to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a
chasing after the wind.
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Psalm 26: 7
