Striving After Wind
Ecclesiastes 4:1-4
1. Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive; 3. but better than both is he who has not yet been, and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. 4. Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Romans 8:35-39
35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36. As it is written, "For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 37. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39. nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I wasn’t born before Christ! Actually I’m so happy to be born after Christ and His resurrection! Without Jesus, life can seem meaningless and we feel as if nothing we do makes a difference. Worse than that, we feel powerless and inadequate. Without faith in God, and belief in the Risen Christ, our eyes can only view the evil, the sad, the hard and ugly places in the hearts of others, and in our world.
When we listen to the radio, read the paper and watch the news, it’s easy to be drawn into the doom and gloom, hopeless and desperate mindset of Ecclesiastes. It grows like a cancer in our minds and hearts, until it overtakes our lives. We live in fear and hopelessness. There is so much wrong in the world, and we are only one person. It’s no wonder we would feel as if anything we might do, in our own small way, would be “vanity and a striving after wind.”
But we have a reason to go out into the world unafraid! Christ has conquered death! And with it he trampled under foot fear and hate, anger and hopelessness! He overcame physical death to show us another way—and to fulfill history!
I chose to live in hope! I chose to rejoice in the gift of salvation given to me without merit. I prefer to revel in God’s grace! Do I have bad days—days where nothing seems to “go my way?” I sure do. Are there mornings when I wake up and can’t believe it’s 6am already? Yes! Do I struggle with the fact that there is so much to be done in the world and I just don’t have the time, energy or resources to do as much as I would like? Certainly. And I admit that there are days like those bemoaned in Ecclesiastes!
But in the long run, life is good. And it’s good because God is good. Not just to me, but to all of us—all of mankind. And if there are those who don’t have a place to live, or live in fear, or who are sick or dying; if there are those who are slaves to an addiction, or who struggle with wounds from their childhood, it is because God wants us to minister to others. He wants us to fix it—and we can only do that if each of us does what we can—no matter how small our contribution may seem.
Don’t give up! Stay strong! Don’t let your hope fade! God is in heaven and He loves us and cares about us too much to abandon us or forget us. The world is far from perfect. Life is not easy. But God is good. And if we believe that, and if we preach that truth to others, and if we serve as living examples of our faith, that will be enough.
I hope you spend today spreading the Good News of God’s grace—the source of our strength and hope.
Mary
