Tag: Gather

Chasing after wind

“and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.”

“yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.“

Psalms 39:6  Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

Ecclesiastes 1:14   I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:17  So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.  I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me,

Ecclesiastes 2:20  So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,  because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

Ecclesiastes 6:11  The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?  For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 12:13   The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Isaiah 55:2   Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Luke 12:20  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

1 Peter 5:6”Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

What are you doing with your life?  Where are your priorities?  Are they on things above or on things of this world?  It is hard to say isn’t it.  We know we are not to be foolish and we need to plan but in the end I think we get lost in the plan.  The goal seems to consume our focus and we loose sight of God and our purpose here on earth.  Keeping all of this in balance requires a commitment, choice, and desire to humbly serve honor and obey God in all that we say, think and do.  One thing is for certain – we need to stay in His word routinely and with purpose.  Chasing after wind seems foolish and who at the end of their life would want to look back and see this is all that had been accomplished. However, seeking God and His purpose has wisdom and eternal  reward.  Choose that which is eternal.

In His Presence

For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy

Nehemiah 1:6
let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there. ’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man

1 Kings 8:29
Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive

2 Chronicles 7:15
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place

Daniel 9:18
O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy

I wonder if we seek God in the same reverence that godly men of the past.  Note how they acknowledge their own sin, the sins of their fathers, and the sins of their nation.  They come to God in awe of Him and recognize their only path to His holiness is through His great mercy and grace.  How often  do we come to God with a burden and think only about our burden.  Shouldn’t we be acknowledging His holiness, mercy, and grace and as well our unworthiness out side of this before we set our burdens at His feet.  Being humble in His presence is not an option.  Do not lose site of who God is and who we are.  We certainly are limited in our understanding of all is power because He is without limit of any kind.  His word says He can do more than we ask but even more than we can imagine.  Going before God in prayer – acknowledge Him first and your burden will seem so much less left in His presence.