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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version.  Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000. (see text)

Chapter 3-C

A Chasing After the Wind

If there's one book most liberals would like to see excluded from the Bible -- if they bothered to read it at all -- it's Ecclesiastes.  It contains perhaps the best argument against moral relativism found anywhere in the word of God.  In it, Solomon, King of Israel, frequently puts himself in the shoes of a godless liberal (whether intentionally or not, I refuse to presume either way;  the word of God doesn't specify Solomon's motivation), wondrously illustrating the folly of their views.  In proclaiming their beliefs forthrightly, he demonstrates all-too-clearly that, despite man's best efforts, apart from God there is no satisfaction in life;  that all things under the sun are meaningless:  a chasing after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 1:3-11 -- What does man gain for all his labor at which he toils 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.  There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. (NIV)

From these rather pathetic verses it's easy to conclude that for all of man's supposed strength, wisdom and knowledge he is still absolutely powerless in effectuating any significant emendation to the eternal order of things, and apart from God, is altogether worthless.  Everything a man can conceive as profitable -- the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, laughter, pleasure, work, wealth, youth and vigor -- in and of itself is useless.  Life and all its pleasures, if purposed apart from God, are meaningless and a chasing after the wind.  And, who but a fool endeavors to chase the wind, or that which cannot be retained?  As Solomon recounts throughout, what does it profit a man to toil his entire life for substance, only to see it pass to another at his death?

Ecclesiastes 2:17-18 -- 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 things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to one who comes after me. (NIV)

Ecclesiastes 5:15-16 -- Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs.  He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.  This too is a grievous evil: As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind? (NIV)

"Okay, so that's material possessions, but what of wisdom and knowledge?  Surely, the pursuit of such as these is worthwhile and productive?"

Ecclesiastes 2:14-16 -- The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness;  but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.  Then I thought in my heart, "The fate of the fool will overtake me also.  What then do I gain by being wise?"  I said in my heart, "This too is meaningless."  For the wise man, like the fool, will not  be long remembered;  in days to come both will be forgotten.  Like the fool, the wise man too must die! (NIV)

Ecclesiastes 8:17 -- No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning.  Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it. (NIV)

As if this portrait of "life under the sun" isn't tenebrous enough, the author of this rather dismal, relativistic look at a life without God adds that we are no better off than the animals.

Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 -- For what happens to the sons of men also happens to the animals;  one thing befalls them:  as one dies, so dies the other.  Surely, they all have one breath;  man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.  All go to one place:  all are from the dust, and all return to dust.  Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?

Now, whereas this may please some animal activists whose sun rises and sets on our dear, soulless cohabitants of this planet, it is not an altogether delightful potentiality for the rest of us.  Add to that the disconsolate denotation of verse 9:11 and it really makes one wonder how people who live their lives apart from God even manage to get up in the morning.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 -- The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned;  but time and chance happen to them all. (NIV)

There is nothing under our control, nothing man can superintend autonomously of God.  Now, to the Christian who's trusting and resting in the divine sovereignty and grace of Almighty God, this is welcomed information.  But, to the lost, worldly, godless Joe down the street, this tends to be somewhat dispiriting -- this realization that we cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, that circumstances entirely beyond our control will always dictate the end results, and that apart from God -- or under the sun -- everything is utterly meaningless.

So, wherein lies our hope?  That God is in charge and not man;  that despite the efforts of this sinful, godless world in which we live, right will prevail and evil be destroyed for all time to come.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 -- Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.  For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.

Chapter 3-b

Chapter 3-d