Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal. Isaiah 26:4.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 NKJV.

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. Proverbs 3:5 AMP.

As I read this next chapter in Ecclesiastes 2, I can’t help but think of Solomon’s father, David, who was a man after God’s own heart. When we find Creator God – Father…Son…Spirit…we find the heart of our God who calms our storms. Our own hearts can’t give us that peace. Solomon seemed to be looking everywhere but to God. I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly – my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.” v. 1-3. My mind still guiding me with wisdom…Isn’t that what we all do? And where does that lead us? I thought of a phrase from a poem titled Invictus by William Ernest Henley, so I include the whole poem here…”Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the Horror of shade, and yet the menace of the years finds, and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” Strong words and I understand all too well the sentiment. Solomon did, too. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun…So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind…What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. v. 10-11, 17, 22-26.

Is that what you think about God? A glancing blow? Don’t get too close because He might lead us where we don’t want to go? And yet. Storms will rise. Uncertainty born in our own minds guiding us in our wisdom. Until nothing is left. If you ever reach that point, know that God loves you. He will not let you go.