Ecclesiastes 1:6 Commentary and Bible Study

In the same way, the wind blows first in one direction hurrying the clouds perhaps to the south, and then a little while later turns again in the opposite direction and comes back to where it was before in the north. It goes round and round repeating the same circuits again and again. On each occasion, it is as if the only possible course is the one which is currently being followed and all that was in the past and all that will be in the future is ignored as it rushes towards its goal. This verse and the next contain a series of participles to indicate the continuous nature of what is described.All these things might happen without man observing them, but they are part of this world under the curse which God wants us to learn from. They teach man what he has become in rejecting his Creator – a creature without purpose that is just subject to forces outside of him, which hurry him first in one direction and then back in the other. We are committed to the idea that work leads to profit and gain, but we see a world that is full of labour which accomplishes nothing. We too are like that world. These cycles are a reflection to man of his own existence, for God has ensured that the same vanity that is in man’s heart is visible in the world around him also. He engages with all his strength and all his enthusiasm in the present task unaware that not long afterwards, he will be doing the opposite with equal vigour and in effect reversing what he had done before. Yet each time he wants to believe that his current activity is significant and productive. His plans and purposes may cancel each other out and yet he wants to convince himself that the present moment is full of meaning. We are created to need to have a purpose for our lives and yet the repetitive cycles of nature come and crush that purpose.