Wind Chasers

by Garry Floyd

How & Why We Inherit Wind’s Emptiness — and What We Can Do About It

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:16

“Exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind?"

The Problem: Humanity Becomes Wind Chasers

The writer of Ecclesiastes repeatedly describes life apart from God as “striving after wind.”

Wind cannot be grasped, stored, controlled, possessed, or understood. Yet people often spend their lives pursuing things that ultimately slip through their fingers. For the sake of this study, we’ll refer to them as “Wind Chasers”.

• Ecclesiastes 5:16 – What gain is there for toiling after the wind?
• Ecclesiastes 1:14 – The wise and the fool both will die
• Ecclesiastes 1:17 – The frustrations of this life
• Proverbs 11:29 – “Inherit the wind.”

Key Idea: A life disconnected (detached, disengaged, distant, divided, cut off) from God often produces activity without lasting substance. But, HOW do we get so disconnected from God?

How do we inherit the wind’s emptiness?

Through Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Intentions

Our inward focus can chase empty things.

• Proverbs 4:23 — “Watch over your heart with all diligence.”
• Jeremiah 17:9 — “The heart is deceitful above all things.”
• Proverbs 12:15 — “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.”

An unrestrained inner life can produce pride, envy, restless ambition, and self-centered desires.

These can drive a person to pursue goals that ultimately have no eternal weight. Rather, we must learn to discipline the inner man. Ask yourself, “What is your why?” “What is your purpose?” And, “How does it benefit others and thus bring glory to God?”

Through Our Freedom of Will and Internal Impulses

As an aside, as Americans, we have a unique governmental structure that has bastardized freedom into something it was never intended to mean. We’re so entitled about our freedom that we now hate the country that was experimented on. Consider all the people all over the world, the mass migration into the US, who want to be part of this freedom. Everybody loves America more than Americans! Absolute EMPTINESS!

Numbers 14: 1-4 – The children of Israel had something special – FREEDOM. Yet they complained in the Wilderness: Shortly after fleeing Egypt, the Israelites grumbled against Moses and God because they were hungry, thirsty, and tired. They frequently romanticized their time in Egypt, remembering the food they ate while forgetting the brutal oppression they endured as slaves.

God gave humanity real choice.

• Joshua 24:15 — “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve.”
• Galatians 5:17 — Flesh vs. Spirit

Freedom without guidance often leads to self-indulgence, impulsive living, and short-term satisfaction. As a result, our freedom and impulse are often effort poured into things that do not last.

Through Our Human Experiences

Life itself can shape our pursuits. Experiences such as success, failure, pain, and comparison with others.

These experiences can redirect our priorities toward temporary achievements.

• Ecclesiastes 1:14 — “All is vanity and striving after wind.”

Experience alone does not produce wisdom. Experience filtered through God does.

Through Our Very Breath, Inner Life, and Consciousness

Interestingly, the Hebrew word “hebel” in Ecclesiastes means vapor, breath, or mist. Human life itself is fragile and fleeting.

• James 4:14 — “You are a vapor that appears for a little time.”
• Genesis 2:7 — God breathed life into man
• Romans 12:1-4 – Be a living sacrifice

Our very existence is temporary, and without God, our pursuits become just as temporary.

What Wind Chasing Looks Like Today

Modern wind chasing includes:

• Pursuing wealth as ultimate meaning
• Building identity on career or reputation
• Endless entertainment
• Social comparison and validation
• Achievements without spiritual purpose

None of these is evil itself — but when they become ultimate, they become wind.