Day 227: Great Commission: 'Lord, You Want Me To "Chase The Wind"?'
Read: Ecclesiastes 7:1 - 14, Matthew 28:16 - 20
Sometimes things do not make sense to us. Well, let me just come right
out and say it - there are so many (too many in my estimation) things
that just don’t make sense in life. These are the things that Solomon
refers to as meaningless, futile, and says that figuring them out is
like chasing the wind. Take for example verse 6 'For as the crackling of
thorn bushes under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool; And this too
is futility.' I have a tough time placing the sound of the crackling of
thorn bushes under a pot or why that particular image had such a
deeply profound meaning to the writer. I have heard the laughter of
fools. However, how the two come together, I don't know. I have ceased trying to figure out how a person thinks.
Figuring out the thought process that motivated the repeated use of 'everything under the sun', and 'like chasing the wind', that prompted such a broad and expansive view of life as a whole as being so completely meaningless, so utterly
futile, just such total folly would most likely send anyone into a
tailspin of gloom despair, excessive misery. But are reading and trying to comprehend such defeating words and phrases really so 'Old Testament'? Just take a look for yourself at the news being thrown
at us by the print and television media. Have you noticed (probably a
silly question) just how much more negativity there is compared to the positive? It is staggering for me to watch it. One wonders at the futility of trying to keep up.
We can look at and try to absorb the biblical world view of Solomon,
then watch or read any of the news channels, put one world view in one
hand, one world view in the other and say "yep - Solomon was right on
target!" But now something has to get in the middle, it always will -
God will make sure it does. God sees these world views too and would
agree wholeheartedly that trying to live in, comprehend, compete with, survive in, get along with each other in without killing each other would be exactly the same as trying to chase the wind. Have you ever tried to catch the
wind? I did once as kid. I had this child's innocence that believed I
could catch and bottle all the wind. Yes, I tried once with a mason jar, thought I succeeded too!
So, now back to the
middle. God always wants us to send us back to the middle, the center of
all things. Have you ever noticed that? What are we to find in the
middle of these competing worldviews? What do you see in the middle?
Someone chasing after the wind? I see the Great Commission right smack dab in the center of it all. I see that God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit (Ruach Adonai - The Holy Wind)
saying if we are going to continue in our folly (all well and good for
Me), do so in My name. "You want me to keep chasing Your Holy wind?" "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." So relax all, we only have to strive to place people in the path of the winds of God's Great Commission and The Ruach Adonai, The Holy Wind, The Holy Spirit will do the rest.
Let Us Pray: Ruach Adonai, Holy Spirit, Holy Wind of God, we read of
the futility of spending even a brief moment 'chasing the wind' as
Solomon wisely wrote. We do so easily recognize the utter folly of such
an adventure as being completely foolish so we listen to Solomon's
words and do not try. Now, you have placed before us, The Body of
Christ, Your Church in the middle of conflicting world and kingdom
views. You have given us the Great Commission. However, like those Disciples who came (16,17) to Galilee, to the mountain the Resurrected Jesus designated, we have
our doubts. It seems that You are commanding us to 'chase the wind' and
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age.” But we are confused. We are perplexed. We pray, Holy Spirit, Holy Wind, that you will reveal to us which wind, the wind of this world, Your Kingdom we are to catch.
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Read: Ecclesiastes 7:1 - 14, Matthew 28:16 - 20
Sometimes things do not make sense to us. Well, let me just come right out and say it - there are so many (too many in my estimation) things that just don’t make sense in life. These are the things that Solomon refers to as meaningless, futile, and says that figuring them out is like chasing the wind. Take for example verse 6 'For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool; And this too is futility.' I have a tough time placing the sound of the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot or why that particular image had such a deeply profound meaning to the writer. I have heard the laughter of fools. However, how the two come together, I don't know. I have ceased trying to figure out how a person thinks.
Figuring out the thought process that motivated the repeated use of 'everything under the sun', and 'like chasing the wind', that prompted such a broad and expansive view of life as a whole as being so completely meaningless, so utterly futile, just such total folly would most likely send anyone into a tailspin of gloom despair, excessive misery. But are reading and trying to comprehend such defeating words and phrases really so 'Old Testament'? Just take a look for yourself at the news being thrown at us by the print and television media. Have you noticed (probably a silly question) just how much more negativity there is compared to the positive? It is staggering for me to watch it. One wonders at the futility of trying to keep up.
We can look at and try to absorb the biblical world view of Solomon, then watch or read any of the news channels, put one world view in one hand, one world view in the other and say "yep - Solomon was right on target!" But now something has to get in the middle, it always will - God will make sure it does. God sees these world views too and would agree wholeheartedly that trying to live in, comprehend, compete with, survive in, get along with each other in without killing each other would be exactly the same as trying to chase the wind. Have you ever tried to catch the wind? I did once as kid. I had this child's innocence that believed I could catch and bottle all the wind. Yes, I tried once with a mason jar, thought I succeeded too!
So, now back to the middle. God always wants us to send us back to the middle, the center of all things. Have you ever noticed that? What are we to find in the middle of these competing worldviews? What do you see in the middle? Someone chasing after the wind? I see the Great Commission right smack dab in the center of it all. I see that God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit (Ruach Adonai - The Holy Wind) saying if we are going to continue in our folly (all well and good for Me), do so in My name. "You want me to keep chasing Your Holy wind?" "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." So relax all, we only have to strive to place people in the path of the winds of God's Great Commission and The Ruach Adonai, The Holy Wind, The Holy Spirit will do the rest.
Let Us Pray: Ruach Adonai, Holy Spirit, Holy Wind of God, we read of the futility of spending even a brief moment 'chasing the wind' as Solomon wisely wrote. We do so easily recognize the utter folly of such an adventure as being completely foolish so we listen to Solomon's words and do not try. Now, you have placed before us, The Body of Christ, Your Church in the middle of conflicting world and kingdom views. You have given us the Great Commission. However, like those Disciples who came (16,17) to Galilee, to the mountain the Resurrected Jesus designated, we have our doubts. It seems that You are commanding us to 'chase the wind' and "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” But we are confused. We are perplexed. We pray, Holy Spirit, Holy Wind, that you will reveal to us which wind, the wind of this world, Your Kingdom we are to catch.
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