“Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to envied) is the man who reverently and worshipfully fears [the Lord] at all times [regardless of circumstances]...
“All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God's providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
Commentary notes, “To fear God is one of the major themes of this book [Ecclesiastes] and of wisdom literature in the Old Testament. To fear God is to respond to Him in awe, reverence, and wonder, to serve Him in purity of action, and to shun evil and any worship of anything else in His universe. keep His commandments: The commandments of the Law are in view here. Jesus summed them up as to “love the Lord your God” and “your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:34–40). man’s all: We are whole or complete only when we fear God and obey His commandments. What profit is there in living? If we follow what this book has said, we will have a relationship with God and find life in Him.” [1]
“Give me one glorious ambition for my life, to know and follow hard after you God” sings
It is only as we are rooted in and seeking God that we can have true satisfaction and contentment. Commentary on Ecclesiastes notes that the author, Solomon sees that man madly pursues one thing after another. However all of it is futility and chasing after the wind. [2]
Commentary notes, “In the end, faith teaches him that God has ordered all things according to His own purpose, and that man's role is to accept these, including his own limitations, as God's appointments. Man, therefore, should be patient and enjoy life as God gives it.” [3]
Wisdom, education, knowledge, pleasure, happiness, power, influence and religion are all temporary. They only have lasting value insofar as man relates all life to God. “Reverence and respect for God and a genuine devotion in serving God are essential in making life worthwhile.” [4]
Over and over, the Word of God makes it clear that we can not find our satisfaction in anything the world has to offer. What we are given in this world we are to hold loosely as a temporary gift. It is not to define us, fulfill us, give us life, or worth.
When we labor to gain fulfillment or significance, we will come up feeling disappointed. Every time circumstances fluctuate to our favor, we feel good and on top of the world, but then when they go against us, we feel discouraged. It is all futility and chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 6:7 says, “All the labor of man is for his mouth [for self-preservation and enjoyment], and yet his desire is not satisfied.”
Too often we crave and desire what we do not have. Rather than holding the gifts that God has placed in our hand with gratitude and enjoyment for their short term blessing and the love they represent, we are striving and chasing after wind to get what we think we think we need to satisfy us.
There is always something around the corner that will finally fulfill us. It is the title we always wanted, the pay, the new job, the recognition we have worked so hard for, the appointment that gives us significance, the public recognition / approval, the possession that shows everyone we are important and worthwhile.
Ecclesiastes 6:9 says, “Better is the sight of the eyes [the enjoyment of what is available to one] than the cravings of wandering desire. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it!”
Often our cravings and dissatisfaction comes from our comparisons with others. We see what others have and think that we must have this in order to be fulfilled and satisfied. We see someone else is important or significant because of their gifts, talents, abilities, position, recognition, and/or possessions. Then we think having this for ourselves will make us fulfilled and satisfied.
Once we obtain it, it makes us happy for a short time. But then we become used to having it and begin to compare ourselves again with others, seeing things that others have that we don't. We move quickly back into discontentment and competing with others for what might fill us. And as one of the elders at my church once noted, you cannot both love someone at the same time as competing with them. [5]
James 4:2-8 says, “You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask.
[Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is [when you get what you desire] to spend it on your sensual pleasures. You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.
Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?”
We can even neglect the gifts that are given to us because we are so busy looking around and craving something else. Sometimes people never really step into the giftings or calling that God gave to them because they are trying to get filled by what they do. They are trying to be someone that they are not because they envy someone elses' gifts.
Often what they are seeking is as sense of significance for themselves. They think that having specific gifts, a specific job or position in life, a specific career, a specific office, or a certain lifestyle will fill them in some way. They strive to obtain that which only turns out to be empty and vain – like chasing the wind.
Sometimes someone will become a workaholic, seeking fulfillment and significance in what they do. They never quite get 'there' (to the place of ultimate success, recognition, fame, and/or fortune that will fulfill them), but in the midst of it, they lose the precious gift of their family and friends who are right in front of them.
Sometimes our successes are our greatest enemy as they keep us striving, driving and seeking that which we can obtain by our own strength. Tim Kizziar notes, “Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.” [6]
Psalm 147:10-11 says, “He delights not in the strength of the horse, nor does He take pleasure in the legs of man. The Lord takes pleasure in those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy and loving-kindness.”
Usually people do not set out to be a workaholic but the longing to be filled drives them towards it. When one seeks to be filled by possessing something, it ends up being something elusive that is always slightly out of our reach. We find ourselves staying in a place of discontentment and striving after wind. The more one obtains, the more one wants and craves.
Ecclesiastes 6:2 says, “A man to whom God has given riches, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he might desire, yet God does not give him the power or capacity to enjoy them [things which are gifts from God], but a stranger [in whom he has no interest succeeds him and] consumes and enjoys them. This is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility); it is a sore affliction!
Even people with the best intentions can find themselves striving after wind. Sometimes pastors or ministry leaders will start out with a genuine heart to make a difference, but find at some point that they have become depleted and are now looking for their work to fill them in some way.
When one begins to invest in even what is good and noble at the expense of that which is most important in their lives, they need to check their motives. If someone is doing 'good' because they believe that it will somehow fill them or make them 'good' they will be left disillusioned. One is left tired, spent and unfulfilled in what they accomplished.
Ruth Haley Barton in her book, “Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership” writes, “It takes profound willingness to invite God to search us and know us at the deepest level of our being, allowing him to show us the difference between the performance-oriented drivenness of the false self and the deeper calling to lead from our authentic self in God.” [7]
She goes on to write, “There is an elemental chaos that gets stirred up when we have been in God's presence enough that we can recognize pretense and performance and every other thing that bolsters our sense of self. It is unnerving to see evidence that these patterns are still at work -perhaps just a bit more subtly -in our everyday lives.” [8]
Most people are filled with mixed motives. We desire to make a difference out of pure motives to serve and honor God but find ourselves at times seeking our own significance through what we do. This is especially true where one has underlying wounds resulting in a deep longing for a sense of significance/ validation of who we are. One can intend to go in one direction but find their deeper longings are drawing them in another direction.
Paul says in Romans 7:15-20 says, “For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].
Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it. However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me.
For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.] For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.”
The good news is that God does not leave us in our places of striving after the wind. As we turn and repent from striving after wind, He is more than able to meet us in our places of need with His grace and provision.
Paul goes on to say in Romans 7:24-25, “O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
And as James talks to the church about their seeking to fulfill their desires in the world, going astray like unfaithful wives, he goes on to promise the help of God's Spirit to meet us in our place of need. He says in James 4:6-10, “But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).
So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].
[As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins]. Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].”
It is not what we see in the world that will fulfill us or give us significance. All of it is vanity and chasing after wind. It is knowing God and allowing Him to satisfy our deepest needs and desires that frees us up to truly enjoy life and the gifts we are given. It is in freely receiving His love that we are set free to freely giving it away to others, giving our life meaning and significance.
Francis Chan writes “God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love.” [9]
Ecclesiastes 6:3-4 says, “If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his life is not filled with good, and also he is given no burial [honors nor is laid to rest in the sepulcher of his fathers], I say that [he who had] an untimely birth [resulting in death] is better off than he, for [the untimely one] comes in futility and goes into darkness, and in darkness his name is covered.”
Commentary notes, “The common lot of man is markedly different. They labor in the pursuit of wealth with such abandonment that they risk total failure in this life. The masses never rise above avarice; theirs is a grievous misery. For even though God allows them the acquisition of wealth and honor, he withholds from them the ability to enjoy their acquisitions. Surrounded by abundance, they are unable to enjoy even the smallest elements of the beauty that surrounds them. Their unrest is heightened as they view the evident satisfaction that others are able to derive from the fruits of their labor.” [10]
Sometimes it is not that we set out to pursue wealth or riches, but that as we are surrounded my so much abundance it somehow seeps into our hearts and hinders our walk with God. We become self-focused and self-indulgent as we allow the world to have a place in our hearts.
Francis Chan notes about lukewarm Christians that they do not live by faith because of the abundance of their surroundings. He writes, "They don't depend on God on a daily basis -their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn't look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.” [11]
Some days ago I had a dream that I was back in Haiti. In my dream, one of the women who served in the kitchen and cared for the children at the house had made us all cookies. As I went to take some, she told me that I too often feasted on the abundance that surrounded me and it was at the expense of my relationship with God. That in indulging, I was sacrificing what I could potentially have with God.
According to Ecclesiastes what makes life 'good' is not what we recieve or have, but how we live our lives. “Good” used in the verse in Ecclesiastes 6 (living a life filled with good) is the Hebrew word towb, Strongs #2896. It means bountiful, prosperous and/or loving. [12] Another source notes that the first time it is used in the bible is when God looked upon His creation as it was created and meant to be. Gen. 1:4 says, “God saw that the light was good.” This source also notes that it can be used in association with having a “glad heart.” [13]
When we are filled by God and allowing Him to satisfy our deepest needs, we are free from striving after wind. We are free to be as we were created. We are free to give ourselves away to others out of a “glad heart.”
Jon Foreman sings in the background, “Every thing I have I count as loss. Everything I have is stripped away. Before I started building I counted up these costs. There's nothing left for you to take away.”
In order to fully stand in a place of freedom, we need to allow God to strip away all that is self. Thomas a Kempis writes as the voice of Christ, “My child, you can never be perfectly free unless you completely renounce self, for all who seek their own interest and who love themselves are bound in fetters.” [14]
He goes on to write about those bound in self, “They are unsettled by covetousness and curiosity, always searching for ease and not for the things of Christ, often devising and framing that which will not last, for anything that is not of God will fail completely.” [15]
His answer to this: “give up your desires and you will find rest.” [16]
It is in surrender of our will, rights, self-preservation, and dignity that we find freedom. As a good Father, God confronts us in those places where we are holding onto life from the world. God sets us free as we let go of what we are holding on to for life and surrender ourselves to Him, receiving His love.
Jon Foreman goes on to sing, “Hello hurricane, you can't silence my love... Everything inside of me surrenders. You can't silence my love.”
It is in letting go and surrendering in the place of confrontation of our self life that we are set free. Trials, afflictions and hardships are producing in us an “eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17) as they cause us to let go of self. And as we do surrender our self-life, troubles and sufferings produce in us “patient and unswerving endurance” that matures us and grows us in the likeness of Christ (Romans 5:4).
Greg Boyd noted on Twitter, "You are FREE to the degree that you cling to nothing and nothing clings to you - Christ clings to you - that is what matters."
Too often we talk of surrender and rejoicing in suffering like it is something we have high regard for, but shy away from it when winds of adversity blow our way (okay speaking of me here). It sounds good in concept but we (I) fail to live it. When the 'rubber meets the road' and I face giving up what I thought was important (my dignity, my rights, my pride, my position, my possessions, and/or my power, etc.), I do not want to “sell all I own” to come follow Christ. At times I feel disheartened and cheated in some way. The truth is, I must be getting some sense of significance from it.
Francis Chan writes, “When we put it plainly like this -as a direct choice between God and our stuff- most of us hope we would chose God. But we need to realize that how we spend our time, what our money goes toward, and where we will invest our energy is equivalent to choosing God or rejecting Him. How could we think for even a second that something on this puny little earth compares to the Creator and Sustainer and Savior of it all?” [17]
Thomas a Kempis goes on to write as the voice of Christ, “I have said: exchange what is precious and valued among men for that which is considered contemptible. For true heavenly wisdom -not to think highly of self and not to seek glory on earth- does indeed seem mean and small and is well-nigh forgotten, as many men praise it with their mouths but shy far away from it with their lives. Yet this heavenly wisdom is a pearl of great price, which is hidden from many.” [18]
Paul knew where his treasure resided. He looked not at the troubles that were around him, rather He fixed His gaze “on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” When He was in prison He wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)
As we surrender, we learn to praise and rejoice in our sufferings as well as when the winds blow in our favor. As we sell all that we own, we have treasure in heaven. It is not our circumstances that are the issue, but our willingness like Paul to surrender to God and keep our heart tender towards Him in the midst of our difficulties and disappointments.
Proverbs 28:14, “Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to envied) is the man who reverently and worshipfully fears [the Lord] at all times [regardless of circumstances], but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.”
Lord, You love me so well. Forgive me for not loving You the same way. I do not want to be like the rich young ruler who went away very sad because he was unwilling to give up what he had in the world to come follow You and be with You. Forgive me where I have spoke this by my reaction to adversity!
You are our treasure and the pearl of great price. Empower us to live our lives for you. Help us not to be caught in the the world or the abundance that surrounds us on every side. Empower us to sell all that we own and come follow You that we might have treasures in heaven.
1. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: The Nelson Study Bible : New King James Version. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1997, S. Ec 12:13
2-4. Commentary. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
5. Hougen, Judy. Church of the Open Door.
6-8. Barton, Ruth Haley. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Il. 2008.
9, 11, 17. Chan, Francis. Crazy Love. David C. Cook Distributions, Colorado Springs, CO. 2008.
10. KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 126
12. Strong, James: The New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1996, S. H2896
13. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:61
14-16, 18. Kempis, Thomas a. The Imitation of Christ. Dover Publications, Mineola, New York. 2003.
Commentary notes, “To fear God is one of the major themes of this book [Ecclesiastes] and of wisdom literature in the Old Testament. To fear God is to respond to Him in awe, reverence, and wonder, to serve Him in purity of action, and to shun evil and any worship of anything else in His universe. keep His commandments: The commandments of the Law are in view here. Jesus summed them up as to “love the Lord your God” and “your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:34–40). man’s all: We are whole or complete only when we fear God and obey His commandments. What profit is there in living? If we follow what this book has said, we will have a relationship with God and find life in Him.” [1]
“Give me one glorious ambition for my life, to know and follow hard after you God” sings
It is only as we are rooted in and seeking God that we can have true satisfaction and contentment. Commentary on Ecclesiastes notes that the author, Solomon sees that man madly pursues one thing after another. However all of it is futility and chasing after the wind. [2]
Commentary notes, “In the end, faith teaches him that God has ordered all things according to His own purpose, and that man's role is to accept these, including his own limitations, as God's appointments. Man, therefore, should be patient and enjoy life as God gives it.” [3]
Wisdom, education, knowledge, pleasure, happiness, power, influence and religion are all temporary. They only have lasting value insofar as man relates all life to God. “Reverence and respect for God and a genuine devotion in serving God are essential in making life worthwhile.” [4]
Over and over, the Word of God makes it clear that we can not find our satisfaction in anything the world has to offer. What we are given in this world we are to hold loosely as a temporary gift. It is not to define us, fulfill us, give us life, or worth.
When we labor to gain fulfillment or significance, we will come up feeling disappointed. Every time circumstances fluctuate to our favor, we feel good and on top of the world, but then when they go against us, we feel discouraged. It is all futility and chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 6:7 says, “All the labor of man is for his mouth [for self-preservation and enjoyment], and yet his desire is not satisfied.”
Too often we crave and desire what we do not have. Rather than holding the gifts that God has placed in our hand with gratitude and enjoyment for their short term blessing and the love they represent, we are striving and chasing after wind to get what we think we think we need to satisfy us.
There is always something around the corner that will finally fulfill us. It is the title we always wanted, the pay, the new job, the recognition we have worked so hard for, the appointment that gives us significance, the public recognition / approval, the possession that shows everyone we are important and worthwhile.
Ecclesiastes 6:9 says, “Better is the sight of the eyes [the enjoyment of what is available to one] than the cravings of wandering desire. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it!”
Often our cravings and dissatisfaction comes from our comparisons with others. We see what others have and think that we must have this in order to be fulfilled and satisfied. We see someone else is important or significant because of their gifts, talents, abilities, position, recognition, and/or possessions. Then we think having this for ourselves will make us fulfilled and satisfied.
Once we obtain it, it makes us happy for a short time. But then we become used to having it and begin to compare ourselves again with others, seeing things that others have that we don't. We move quickly back into discontentment and competing with others for what might fill us. And as one of the elders at my church once noted, you cannot both love someone at the same time as competing with them. [5]
James 4:2-8 says, “You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask.
[Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is [when you get what you desire] to spend it on your sensual pleasures. You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.
Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?”
We can even neglect the gifts that are given to us because we are so busy looking around and craving something else. Sometimes people never really step into the giftings or calling that God gave to them because they are trying to get filled by what they do. They are trying to be someone that they are not because they envy someone elses' gifts.
Often what they are seeking is as sense of significance for themselves. They think that having specific gifts, a specific job or position in life, a specific career, a specific office, or a certain lifestyle will fill them in some way. They strive to obtain that which only turns out to be empty and vain – like chasing the wind.
Sometimes someone will become a workaholic, seeking fulfillment and significance in what they do. They never quite get 'there' (to the place of ultimate success, recognition, fame, and/or fortune that will fulfill them), but in the midst of it, they lose the precious gift of their family and friends who are right in front of them.
Sometimes our successes are our greatest enemy as they keep us striving, driving and seeking that which we can obtain by our own strength. Tim Kizziar notes, “Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.” [6]
Psalm 147:10-11 says, “He delights not in the strength of the horse, nor does He take pleasure in the legs of man. The Lord takes pleasure in those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy and loving-kindness.”
Usually people do not set out to be a workaholic but the longing to be filled drives them towards it. When one seeks to be filled by possessing something, it ends up being something elusive that is always slightly out of our reach. We find ourselves staying in a place of discontentment and striving after wind. The more one obtains, the more one wants and craves.
Ecclesiastes 6:2 says, “A man to whom God has given riches, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he might desire, yet God does not give him the power or capacity to enjoy them [things which are gifts from God], but a stranger [in whom he has no interest succeeds him and] consumes and enjoys them. This is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility); it is a sore affliction!
Even people with the best intentions can find themselves striving after wind. Sometimes pastors or ministry leaders will start out with a genuine heart to make a difference, but find at some point that they have become depleted and are now looking for their work to fill them in some way.
When one begins to invest in even what is good and noble at the expense of that which is most important in their lives, they need to check their motives. If someone is doing 'good' because they believe that it will somehow fill them or make them 'good' they will be left disillusioned. One is left tired, spent and unfulfilled in what they accomplished.
Ruth Haley Barton in her book, “Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership” writes, “It takes profound willingness to invite God to search us and know us at the deepest level of our being, allowing him to show us the difference between the performance-oriented drivenness of the false self and the deeper calling to lead from our authentic self in God.” [7]
She goes on to write, “There is an elemental chaos that gets stirred up when we have been in God's presence enough that we can recognize pretense and performance and every other thing that bolsters our sense of self. It is unnerving to see evidence that these patterns are still at work -perhaps just a bit more subtly -in our everyday lives.” [8]
Most people are filled with mixed motives. We desire to make a difference out of pure motives to serve and honor God but find ourselves at times seeking our own significance through what we do. This is especially true where one has underlying wounds resulting in a deep longing for a sense of significance/ validation of who we are. One can intend to go in one direction but find their deeper longings are drawing them in another direction.
Paul says in Romans 7:15-20 says, “For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].
Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it. However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me.
For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.] For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.”
The good news is that God does not leave us in our places of striving after the wind. As we turn and repent from striving after wind, He is more than able to meet us in our places of need with His grace and provision.
Paul goes on to say in Romans 7:24-25, “O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
And as James talks to the church about their seeking to fulfill their desires in the world, going astray like unfaithful wives, he goes on to promise the help of God's Spirit to meet us in our place of need. He says in James 4:6-10, “But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).
So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].
[As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins]. Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].”
It is not what we see in the world that will fulfill us or give us significance. All of it is vanity and chasing after wind. It is knowing God and allowing Him to satisfy our deepest needs and desires that frees us up to truly enjoy life and the gifts we are given. It is in freely receiving His love that we are set free to freely giving it away to others, giving our life meaning and significance.
Francis Chan writes “God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love.” [9]
Ecclesiastes 6:3-4 says, “If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his life is not filled with good, and also he is given no burial [honors nor is laid to rest in the sepulcher of his fathers], I say that [he who had] an untimely birth [resulting in death] is better off than he, for [the untimely one] comes in futility and goes into darkness, and in darkness his name is covered.”
Commentary notes, “The common lot of man is markedly different. They labor in the pursuit of wealth with such abandonment that they risk total failure in this life. The masses never rise above avarice; theirs is a grievous misery. For even though God allows them the acquisition of wealth and honor, he withholds from them the ability to enjoy their acquisitions. Surrounded by abundance, they are unable to enjoy even the smallest elements of the beauty that surrounds them. Their unrest is heightened as they view the evident satisfaction that others are able to derive from the fruits of their labor.” [10]
Sometimes it is not that we set out to pursue wealth or riches, but that as we are surrounded my so much abundance it somehow seeps into our hearts and hinders our walk with God. We become self-focused and self-indulgent as we allow the world to have a place in our hearts.
Francis Chan notes about lukewarm Christians that they do not live by faith because of the abundance of their surroundings. He writes, "They don't depend on God on a daily basis -their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn't look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.” [11]
Some days ago I had a dream that I was back in Haiti. In my dream, one of the women who served in the kitchen and cared for the children at the house had made us all cookies. As I went to take some, she told me that I too often feasted on the abundance that surrounded me and it was at the expense of my relationship with God. That in indulging, I was sacrificing what I could potentially have with God.
According to Ecclesiastes what makes life 'good' is not what we recieve or have, but how we live our lives. “Good” used in the verse in Ecclesiastes 6 (living a life filled with good) is the Hebrew word towb, Strongs #2896. It means bountiful, prosperous and/or loving. [12] Another source notes that the first time it is used in the bible is when God looked upon His creation as it was created and meant to be. Gen. 1:4 says, “God saw that the light was good.” This source also notes that it can be used in association with having a “glad heart.” [13]
When we are filled by God and allowing Him to satisfy our deepest needs, we are free from striving after wind. We are free to be as we were created. We are free to give ourselves away to others out of a “glad heart.”
Jon Foreman sings in the background, “Every thing I have I count as loss. Everything I have is stripped away. Before I started building I counted up these costs. There's nothing left for you to take away.”
In order to fully stand in a place of freedom, we need to allow God to strip away all that is self. Thomas a Kempis writes as the voice of Christ, “My child, you can never be perfectly free unless you completely renounce self, for all who seek their own interest and who love themselves are bound in fetters.” [14]
He goes on to write about those bound in self, “They are unsettled by covetousness and curiosity, always searching for ease and not for the things of Christ, often devising and framing that which will not last, for anything that is not of God will fail completely.” [15]
His answer to this: “give up your desires and you will find rest.” [16]
It is in surrender of our will, rights, self-preservation, and dignity that we find freedom. As a good Father, God confronts us in those places where we are holding onto life from the world. God sets us free as we let go of what we are holding on to for life and surrender ourselves to Him, receiving His love.
Jon Foreman goes on to sing, “Hello hurricane, you can't silence my love... Everything inside of me surrenders. You can't silence my love.”
It is in letting go and surrendering in the place of confrontation of our self life that we are set free. Trials, afflictions and hardships are producing in us an “eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17) as they cause us to let go of self. And as we do surrender our self-life, troubles and sufferings produce in us “patient and unswerving endurance” that matures us and grows us in the likeness of Christ (Romans 5:4).
Greg Boyd noted on Twitter, "You are FREE to the degree that you cling to nothing and nothing clings to you - Christ clings to you - that is what matters."
Too often we talk of surrender and rejoicing in suffering like it is something we have high regard for, but shy away from it when winds of adversity blow our way (okay speaking of me here). It sounds good in concept but we (I) fail to live it. When the 'rubber meets the road' and I face giving up what I thought was important (my dignity, my rights, my pride, my position, my possessions, and/or my power, etc.), I do not want to “sell all I own” to come follow Christ. At times I feel disheartened and cheated in some way. The truth is, I must be getting some sense of significance from it.
Francis Chan writes, “When we put it plainly like this -as a direct choice between God and our stuff- most of us hope we would chose God. But we need to realize that how we spend our time, what our money goes toward, and where we will invest our energy is equivalent to choosing God or rejecting Him. How could we think for even a second that something on this puny little earth compares to the Creator and Sustainer and Savior of it all?” [17]
Thomas a Kempis goes on to write as the voice of Christ, “I have said: exchange what is precious and valued among men for that which is considered contemptible. For true heavenly wisdom -not to think highly of self and not to seek glory on earth- does indeed seem mean and small and is well-nigh forgotten, as many men praise it with their mouths but shy far away from it with their lives. Yet this heavenly wisdom is a pearl of great price, which is hidden from many.” [18]
Paul knew where his treasure resided. He looked not at the troubles that were around him, rather He fixed His gaze “on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” When He was in prison He wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)
As we surrender, we learn to praise and rejoice in our sufferings as well as when the winds blow in our favor. As we sell all that we own, we have treasure in heaven. It is not our circumstances that are the issue, but our willingness like Paul to surrender to God and keep our heart tender towards Him in the midst of our difficulties and disappointments.
Proverbs 28:14, “Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to envied) is the man who reverently and worshipfully fears [the Lord] at all times [regardless of circumstances], but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.”
Lord, You love me so well. Forgive me for not loving You the same way. I do not want to be like the rich young ruler who went away very sad because he was unwilling to give up what he had in the world to come follow You and be with You. Forgive me where I have spoke this by my reaction to adversity!
You are our treasure and the pearl of great price. Empower us to live our lives for you. Help us not to be caught in the the world or the abundance that surrounds us on every side. Empower us to sell all that we own and come follow You that we might have treasures in heaven.
1. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: The Nelson Study Bible : New King James Version. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1997, S. Ec 12:13
2-4. Commentary. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
5. Hougen, Judy. Church of the Open Door.
6-8. Barton, Ruth Haley. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Il. 2008.
9, 11, 17. Chan, Francis. Crazy Love. David C. Cook Distributions, Colorado Springs, CO. 2008.
10. KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 126
12. Strong, James: The New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1996, S. H2896
13. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:61
14-16, 18. Kempis, Thomas a. The Imitation of Christ. Dover Publications, Mineola, New York. 2003.
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