The book of Ecclesiastes is the journal of a king. A king who penned down everything he discovered during his pursuit for happiness. King Solomon was the wisest most wealthiest monarch of his time. During his 40 year reign, the nation of Israel enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity. It was during this time of prosperity, that king Solomon devoted all of his wealth, all of his time and most of his life to explore everything under the sun. He sought and he searched and pursued every pleasure and every passion that his heart coveted. But at the end of his journey all he discovered was futility and despair, "What does a man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?...I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven...I have seen all things under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind."

The wisest man in the world declared, at the conclusion of his journey, that all his efforts and all his wealth, was devoted to chasing the wind. Here is a man who had invested everything he possessed to find happiness and fulfillment of life. A man who looked unto life, because it appeared to contain substance. Yet when he dug deep into it, he found that life was empty and void. King Solomon entrusted time and effort into the pursuit of happiness. He thought that life would hold out hope, the hope that life was a bright, warm, happy dream. Yet when he went for it, he stumbled into a cold dark nightmare. The wisest man in the earth concluded that devoting everything to this earthly life was nothing but a toil of futility and despair, a CHASING AFTER THE WIND.

Today, many people are embarking into the same journey. Perhaps you find yourself in the middle of this pilgrimage. You have invested life, money and family into a system that is temporal and passing, and it hasn’t done anything to make you feel like life has contributed to the betterment of your own life! Many people and even Christians alike are ignoring the fact that this world has become fraudulent and corrupt. They ignore the fact that this world is more wicked, vile and depraved than ever. And soon will be faced with the hard reality that life on planet earth is not a great big bowl of cherries. But most of the time it’s the pits, it is a grind, and seeking satisfaction and peace is nothing more, and nothing less than, a CHASING AFTER THE WIND! There is or was a time when you were traveling the same road. Perhaps, in your search for contentment and fulfillment, you have spent yourself, wasted every ounce of spiritual, emotional, and physical energy in your being, only to find out that the consequent "rushes" of happiness and fulfilment are short-lived and incapable of supplying deep satisfaction. So what do you so? What do you say? Should I move? Should I change jobs, career, or even marriage? The answer is a resounding "NO!!!"

Like the wise king Salomon, all you have been doing is a CHASING AFTER THE WIND! The first answer is not in what you are doing or not. In who you are with or not. And in where you live or not. But the first answer is found in priorities! Ask yourself this question. "Where is God in your life?" Well, He is No.1 in my life! No, that’s not the right answer! "Where is God in your life?" means, "What kind of a relationship do you have with Him?" You see, you can be a church going person. You can be faithful in your giving. Faithful in Christian work. Faithful in attendance. But if God is not a part of your daily experience, it doesn’t matter how great and how small your pursuits are, sooner or later, they will become nothing more and nothing less than a CHASING AFTER THE WIND! One thing that I have learned, as a pastor, is that my satisfaction and fulfilment in the work I perform for the Lord IS NOT found in my accomplishments. I don’t find it in the success of the church. I don’t even find it in how many souls come to the Lord (that can also turn into a chasing after the wind). But my full and complete fulfilment is found in those days when I had a good, long conversation with the Lord. Those days when I choose my priorities correctly and make the Lord (hearing His Word, Prayer, worship) number ONE in my list. When no special activity, sport, pleasure, or even recreation can replace an hour or two with the Creator of all things.

Some of you have replaced these small, but significant experiences, with many other pursuits like; work, school, study, pleasure, and even family. Nothing wrong with that, however, when that becomes the norm in your life, you will realize that all you have been doing is CHASING THE WIND. Why don’t you change your ways? The Bible says that, the word of the LORD came to His people and said, "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’ This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways...You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away [chasing the wind]. Why?’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.’" Haggai 1:4-7, 9 (NIV).

Stop and listen! Look around your life, "Are you involved in a futile chase?" The Lord is calling His people to, "...humble themselves and pray and seek [His] face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place." 1 Chronicles 7:14-15 (NIV). Let us get back to where we first began. Ask God to bring back the new again! Put Him first in your life, because anything, or anybody first, other than God is just a CHASING AFTER THE WIND!