Striving after nothing but the wind...

“You’ve made your bed, now lie in it.”

What does this mean?

My understanding is – you’ve chosen your path, now deal with the consequences. A lot of parents use this as a “tough love” line, to indicate that they are no longer bailing their children out of the consequences of their own foolish choices.

This is “tough”, because human love tends to want to bail people out of less-than-desirable consequences, even when they got themselves in them in the first place.

However, it is “love”, because until we face the consequences of our foolish decisions, we never learn not to make those same foolish decisions.

We can tell a child that fire is dangerous until we are blue in the face. We can even threaten punishment if they get close to the fire in an attempt to keep our child safe. But sometimes, until the child attempts to put his/her hand in the fire and feels that split-second pain response themselves, they’ll keep getting closer and closer to the fire despite the warnings.

We warn children of the dangers, and yet they enter into those dangers despite our love-intended warnings. Eventually, as the children grow older, we have to back away and let them “learn their lesson” – because we recognize in ourselves that we are often so hard-headed and stubborn and self-willed, that we only “learn the hard way”.

God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with few guidelines. They lived in the paradise of Eden, enjoyed and tended to His Creation, and were only told not to eat of the tree of knowledge – else they would die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
(Gen 3:4-5)

Satan appealed to our humanistic self-will, and Eve fell right in. She chose “her own way” instead of God’s way – despite the warning of death that God gave.

The Fall is the description of God, in His mercy, subjecting humanity to the “bed they had chosen and made”. Humanity chose to have its own choices, instead of God’s choices. God is eternal, omniscient, and sees far beyond the little windows of seconds that we see from below – and yet, over and over, we think that “we know better”.

He subjected us to mortal death and this temporary, unsatisfying world - with a bigger goal in mind.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
(Rom 8:20-21)

We are subjected to the “vanity under the sun” in hope that the creation itself would see the futility of its own choices, and therefore the perfection of God’s choices would shine through the contrast. By allowing our choices to flow to their own natural unsatisfying and miserable consequences, we will see that God's ways are for our own good and His glory. When He opens our eyes to Himself, we can then choose Him instead of self - and be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

When we are slaves to our own choices – we are in bondage to decay. We love stuff, and we buy tons of stuff, and then we watch our stuff decay and fail to satisfy us. We put our treasure in humans, and we see humans die and fail to satisfy us. We put our trust in self and pleasure, and we see our self and pleasure fail to truly satisfy time and time again.

He subjected us to the vanity (worthlessness), futility, uselessness and decay of this temporal world below, in hope that we would eventually see the futility of our own making – and instead look to Him and desire Him above all else; the only One who will truly and fully satisfy.

King Solomon is regarded as one of the wisest men who ever lived. He lived to experience pretty much every pleasure that can be known to man by wealth and prosperity, and he felt compelled to write down many truths in order to pass on what he had learned from enjoying life to its fullest here on earth, “under the sun”:


He who loves money will not be satisfied with money,
nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
(Ecc 5:10-11)

Ecc 6:9-12
(9) Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
(10) Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.
(11) The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?
(12) 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?

Solomon has numerous examples from life that seem good to a man, but ends by saying “this is also vanity” – because he has seen the passing and temporary and uselessness nature of all things “under the sun”.

He finally wraps things up by saying that he has learned from all he has enjoyed and experienced:
Ecc 12:12-14
(12) And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
(13) Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
(14) For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.


You and I have been subjected to this futile world for one reason – not that we would continue forever to seek pleasure in the worthless – but that we would see the worthlessness and look beyond temporary to the One eternally fulfilling Jesus Christ.

He came to endure the futile world Himself to save us from our own sin that binds us here, and hinders us from loving Him.

We were created by the Holy Almighty Creator God, for His own pleasure and glory – and until we learn to fear Him, revere Him, and love Him – true joy can never begin.

All else is worthlessness, and all will be judged in His Holy presence on the last day.