Shepherding the Wind: Sermons in Ecclesiastes

by Kevin Chiarot

Think of how much of this book—even in avoiding it—you have of vanity all is vanity, there is nothing new under the sun, with muchwisdom comes much grief, there is a time for everything and a season for everypurpose under heaven, man’s fate is the same as animals, a cord of three strandsis not easily broken, cast your bread upon the waters, remember your creator inthe days of your youth, of the making of many books there is no end. All arefragments of the mysterious whole that is Ecclesiastes.The book has been called cynical, jaded, contradictory, jumbled, despairing, atheistic, and and those are just a few of the derogatory labels.After all, this is a book which tells everything is vanity, all of life is like shepherding the wind, work has no profit, nothing is really new, labor is hateful because the fruits go to others, church and state are corrupt,men are oppressed, it is better to have never been born in many cases, riches destroy their owners, the good and evil both die, time and chance overtake us all, and many other cheerful ditties.Ecclesiastes is, even on faithful and sympathetic reading, a brutal book.It looks at life with a shocking candor that most of us are simply unwilling or unable to tolerate. But the author does not allow us to avert our gaze. He grabs us by the scruff of the neck and shoves our noses back into the intractable evil, the incalculable woe and misery thatis life under the sun, “No, you cannot, you must not turn look at this again, look harder and longer. I know it hurts, but, trust me, it will be good for you.

254 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 27, 2011

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, written by one of my former pastors. I especially loved that each chapter ended with a section called "Bringing Us to the Lord's Table" which related the passage in Ecclesiastes to Jesus.