Do You Feel as if You Are Chasing the Wind

How I hadn’t seen it before is anyone’s guess. Everyday I make the journey from my front door to the mailbox and back. Everyday, I see the glass storm door and white paneled front door as I walk back up the path.

How. Did. I. Not. Notice?

The glass storm door had smudges and streaks glaring right back at me at eye level. Thin layer of dirt covered the front door. I did tell you it’s a white door, didn’t I? A thicker layer of dirt filled the crevices of each panel. All summer long I had been oblivious to the downward appearance of my front door…

….or was it selective sight? I only saw what I wanted to see, in this case a clean storm and front door. I had closed myself off to the reality of the true state of the door’s.

I wonder if King Solomon had selective sight? The Lord had told Israel not to marry from the surrounding nations (Deuteronomy 7:3), and yet King Solomon had taken wives from other countries. In fact he had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3).  That’s a lot of wives for any man.

This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. (Duet: 7:5)

Solomon had been taught in the ways of the Lord, yet we find him taking multiple wives of foreign blood. We find the reason why God had told the Israelites not to inter-marry in verse 4 of Deuteronomy 7: For they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods…

Can you guess what happened to King Solomon? Yep! He took on the practice of serving other gods. In 1Kings 11:4 we read,

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

A heart not fully devoted to God, that is not how he started out. 1 Kings 8:23 he prays “Oh LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven above or on the earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion”.

As we walk this journey in our relationship with Jesus, we too can move from wholehearted devotion to being not fully devoted. Solomon had seen a lot of life and it had left a distaste in his mouth. Ecclesiastes 2 :17 Solomon says; “So I came to hate life because everything done under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind”.

Has life left you feeling as if you are chasing the wind? Have you been wondering what is the point of doing what you are doing? No judgement here friend, I too have times where I question and ask, what’s the point.

Then I am reminded the point is not just for the here and now. My reason (your reason) for existing does not end with the grave. When we live with God’s purpose in our hearts, we touch lives that touch lives, that touch lives. When we are wholeheartedly devoted to God we live with an eternity mentality. Meaningless existence becomes a Meaningful existence.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Live life my friend radiant in Christ

Helena

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