I saw a photo that was taken in the 1800s of a family standing in front of their sod house on the prairie. They were working hard trying to make ends meet, but joy and peace were on their faces indicating they had discovered something that wealth, prestige, and earthly measures of success could not provide. 

Solomon used the phrase “chasing after the wind” several times in the book of Ecclesiastes to denote a life given over to chasing the pleasures of this world at the expense of pursuing the Spirit. What we are pursuing in this life will reveal our motivation and the condition of our hearts. What we pursue will define the goal of our passions.

Solomon summed up what he considered valuable in life from his unique perspective of having all a person could want in this life – wealth, relationships, and prestige. After considering his life, Solomon made this declaration, “So, I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find work satisfaction. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God” (Ecclesiastes 2:24). When God gives these earthly pleasures to us, we will experience a deepening sense of peace and rest that is created when we live a life committed to His will.

That kind of satisfaction is not based on the current value of a dollar, the stability of our financial institutions, or what we have in the bank. Nor can business success or the results of the next election. It is a simple soul satisfaction that only comes when we are pursuing God, not the winds of human desire. To get to that place of satisfaction we need to ask challenging questions of ourselves that will reveal what we are following – the winds of human vanity or the winds of God’s Spirit.