Know or Blow

Who has ascended to heaven and come down?  Who has gathered the wind in his fists?  Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?  Who has established all the ends of the earth?  What is his name, and what is his son's name?  Surely you know! -- Proverbs 30:4

I hear strong echoes of Job.  It seems like a good week for humility, for questioning what all of our vast knowledge and technology does for us.  Hubris was the name of a book I saw a few years back.  I didn’t read it, but it was an indictment of George Bush’s war in Iraq.  Some of what was said may have had some merit.  We have to be wary, though, of analyses that are little more than projections of the speaker or writer.  I tend to do it myself.  If I don’t like someone or consider them an enemy, it is easy to attribute to them the worst possible motives and make that the basis for even correct actions and decisions.    

This week marked the end of a long, drawn-out, and very expensive struggle for some people I know.  The conflict began from just such a dishonest assessment of another’s motives and character, plus a good dose of greed.  I don’t think the resolution was entirely satisfactory to either side, but it wasn’t grossly unfair to the ones I believe were in the right. 

I talked with them immediately after all the agreements were signed.  We talked about God’s justice, but, as I pointed out, that really means we recognize God’s sovereignty.  Faith, contrary to what many seem to teach, is not about getting “our” way.  I know people who will stand in the driveway and rebuke the winds whenever there is a storm.  They haven’t blown away yet; neither have I.  I’d like to think that if I did get hit with a tornado, and survived, after I was through crying about all the stuff I had lost and that had gotten torn up, all my memories and work that had blown away, I could still trust in the God who remembers everything and loses nothing.  To me, that is faith. 

Instead of chiding people who suffer for the weakness of their faith, we should be humbled before those who have great faith in the midst of great suffering. 

If I were running the world, it would be run differently.  That is without question.  The question is whether my way would be better.  The answer is, No.  

This may seem to be the end of freedom, of free will.  As Rick said yesterday, it’s the beginning of freedom.  When Nicodemus came and questioned Jesus in the darkness, the Light of the World replied, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  I can’t grasp the wind in my fist, can’t control it, can’t tell it where to blow, but being born of the Spirit sets us as free as the wind itself.

Too Much Honey

Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind — Ecclesiastes 2:17

Vanity: Absurdity, Frustration, Futility and Nonsense.

I have a confession to make: reading Ecclesiates is a kind of guilty pleasure for me. I read what the Preacher has to say, and I feel a kinship to women who sneak white-chocolate-and-macadamia-nut cookies or guys who watch La Femme Nikita. I get just a little tired of being positive and upbeat all the time. Sometimes I get a hankering for grit and grim realism. Just give it to me straight.

The preponderance of scholarship suggests that Solomon himself wrote Ecclesiastes. If he didn't write it, he was certainly the inspiration for it. It was good to be the king. He started out asking for wisdom. He built the temple. His wisdom and devotion to God gave him great wealth, prestige, and power. He was admired, even revered, not just by his own people, but by the aristocracy of other nations. All that he could desire was at his fingertips. It was almost as if he could have or do anything he could imagine. Indications are that he initially lived with some restraint. Because of the value he placed on wisdom, he sought knowledge and understanding. He delved into the esoteric. But the more knowledge he acquired, the more his sorrow increased.

How could a wise, discerning, and devout man like Solomon ever come to the point of saying, "I hated life"?

And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived this also is grasping for the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow (Ecclesiastes 1:17-18).

What is hidden from most of us lay open and exposed to Solomon. Yet his wisdom remained with him, and he was able to see the futility of it. I wonder sometimes if humans are really made for overwhelming success. How can you possibly prepare to get what you want, all you want, any time you want? Failure and distress and lack we seem to be able to deal with well enough, especially when mixed with the occasional rewarding experience. On the other hand, when everything falls into our hands, many of us fall apart. The reality of life as "grasping for the wind" is driven home by the emptiness of "money for nothing" and "easy easy chicks for free", and a way must be found to placate the sense of sorrow and grief that accompanies that pain.

Ricky Nelson died in a fiery plane crash on his way to a show in Dallas on December 31, 1985. A rumor circulated shortly afterward that the fire had been caused by Nelson freebasing cocaine - with a result somewhat similar to Richard Pryor's earlier imitation of the Human Torch. Freebasing was most likely not the cause of the fire. The plane was a forty-year-old DC-3 with a history of cabin heater issues and the crew had tried unsuccessfully to start the heater several times before the fire erupted. The rumor about freebasing arose from the fact that Nelson had a long history of cocaine use, and the autopsy showed traces of the drug in his system. I heard his twin sons relating the story of their father's death. They explained the details of the plane's mechanical issues and cabin heater malfunction, and they denied that the fire had been started as a result of a freebasing accident. They rather cavalierly dismissed the cocaine in Rick's system with words to the effect that he was a rock and roll singer so of course he did drugs.

Why does being a rock star excuse drug use? Rock stars are somewhat like kings. Despite what Mick and Keith said, popular culture idols can pretty well get what they want. In that, they are often like Solomon without the wisdom. Of course, in the developed world, and especially in America, the majority of us have more than we need. We are often able, if only vicariously, to "know madness and folly". Our grasping for the wind is revealed to us, but we find ways to close our eyes, to hide the truth from ourselves.

It's true that no one can catch the wind. It's also true that "the wind blows where it wishes". We hear the sound of it, but we cannot tell from where it comes or to where it is going. We cannot grasp the wind, but the wind can have an effect on us. We can be caught by it, by God's Spirit of Grace. If we are willing to leave all of our artifacts and attachments behind, we might even be caught up to heaven in a whirlwind.