The Frustrations of a Windchaser

Ecclesiastes 2
Pleasures Are Meaningless
1 I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 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. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem [a] as well—the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
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.

In His book The Body, Chuck Colson speaks of the Donahueite world-view which sees life as linear. When a certain number of years have elapsed, it's over. Period. It's a pathetic picture, and one people seldom look at unless it is forced upon them -- as it was with poignancy and wit in City Slickers. While this movie may not rank among the great morality plays of all time (and some would find parts of the film offensive), it certainly drives the point home, along with the cattle.
Comedian Billy Crystal plays the part of a bored baby boomer who sells radio advertising time. One the day he visits his son's school to tell about his work along with other fathers, he suddenly lets loose a deadpan monologue to the bewildered youngsters in the class:
Value this time in your life, kids, because this is the time in your life when you still have your choices. It goes by fast.
When you're a teenager, you think you can do anything and you do. Your twenties are a blur.
Thirties you raise your family, you make a little money, and you think to yourself, "What happened to my twenties?"
Forties, you grow a little pot belly, you grow another chin. The music starts to get too loud, one of your old girlfriends from high school becomes a grandmother.
Fifties, you have a minor surgery -- you'll call it a procedure, but it's a surgery.
Sixties, you'll have a major surgery, the music is still loud, but it doesn't matter because you can't hear it anyway.
Seventies, you and the wife retire to Fort Lauderdale. You start eating dinner at 2:00 in the afternoon, you have lunch around 10:00, breakfast the night before, spend most of your time wandering around malls looking for the ultimate soft yogurt and muttering, "How come the kids don't call? How come the kids don't call?"
The eighties, you'll have a major stroke, and you end up babbling with some Jamaican nurse who your wife can't stand, but who you call mama.
Any questions?
Charles W. Colson, The Body, 1992, Word Publishing, pp. 168-169.
Needless to say that this outlook of life is quite depressing and sad, nonetheless today’s scripture using other words relates somewhat the same idea. Today’s scripture is found in the book of Ecclesiastes, a book credited by many to wise King Solomon. Ecclesiastes which is translated as “Teacher” takes a look at life from the vantage point of someone, probably Solomon, who had worked and played hard and had been the benefactor of much prosperity and wisdom.

As we read this book there is a prevalent theme that life viewed merely from a realistic human perspective can only result in pessimism.

When left to mere human outlooks and efforts, life seems hopeless and meaningless. We’re not just reading the ranting and ravings of an old man, but that of a man, that by his own admission had experienced much: Pleasures, riches, and fame. 10) “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.” Yet in his own evaluation having all these goodies without God meant absolutely nothing.

The teacher seeks not to lecture through rhetoric but through his own experiences. In chapter 2 he looks at pleasures of life. In the words of our youth today Solomon had much bling, bling (that’s jewelry to you old folks). He had many cribs (houses), many females (700 wives and 300 concubines). Honestly, I don’t know how he had time to do anything else. This guy was famous, smart. Good-looking (the books of Songs of Solomon quotes a lover saying this about him,
Beloved
10 My lover is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.
11 His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold set with chrysolite. His body is like polished ivory decorated with sapphires. [b]
15 His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.
Again using MTV verbiage: “The man had play”
yet his words are these; “…when I surveyed all my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (11)

He even took a turn at earthly wisdom, science, something he had put invested much at as well, yet at the end he found emptiness in his quest for earthly knowledge. Just a wind chaser.

He evaluates all his work and the work he had amassed, and in this he also finds no meaning, a chasing after the wind. He has an issue with the fact that he works hard just to leave all his riches behind when he dies to someone who would probably squandered all his riches with little or no recognition of the work it took to build such riches.

Too bad Stan wasn’t around to talk Solomon into becoming a partner in the building project.

This too Solomon saw as trying to catch the wind.

Paul writes to Timothy these words: 6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. (1 Timothy)

Solomon discovered that finding pleasure is as elusive as trying to catch the wind. He pursued everything imaginable to achieve lasting bliss, but the smartest man alive still had a restless mind. The richest man in the world could not buy happiness. The most powerful man person in the kingdom was unable to satisfy his own heart. Despite having all these women he had not found true love. These pursuits were meaningless and unsatisfying.
When we try to secure happiness on our own it’s like trying to catch the ever-so-elusive wind. We can try to chase it but it will always be just out of our reach.

We have been conditioned to think that true satisfaction can only be found in the tangible, that which we can touch and experience here and now, yet this is not what the Word of God teaches us. Our joy and true happiness lies on the fact that 2000 plus years ago Christ atoned for our sins in Calvary and today we are benefactors of his saving grace. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. (Psalms 32:1)

Success, prosperity, and even life itself is passing thing like the wind but God’s word, his truths, will forever last. (Isaiah 40)
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
You maybe restless and dissatisfied wondering (1) If I am in God’s will, why am I so tired and unfulfilled? (2)What is the meaning of life? (3) When I look back on it all, will I be happy with my accomplishments? (4) Why do I feel burned out, disillusioned, dry? (5) What is to become of me? I believe that God spoken to us in different ways, yet the prevalent truth for all of us is this; that we not become frustrated wind chasers wasting our lives in the pursuit of an elusive happiness found in earthly things. We are challenged by the word of God to seek the wisdom that comes from God. Solomon tests our faith challenging us to find true and lasting meaning in God alone. Perhaps God is asking us to rethink our purpose and direction in life,