Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 (ESV)
10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Matthew 26:39 (MSG)
39 Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?”

Solomon, the wisest man in the world, cries out that chasing after the heart’s desire is vanity, striving after wind. Christ calls to his father – please take this away, take what’s about to happen and give it to someone else – but only if it aligns with your will.

Two examples for us on how things work. I kept no pleasure from my heart and there was nothing. The things of the world don’t matter, only walking with God. If you’ve done it, you know. If you don’t know it, you haven’t done it. If you haven’t done it, you don’t know.

Solomon had the world, did whatever he wanted to, had everything he wanted, and it was empty. Christ took that desire of the flesh, the sin, not just for Solomon, but for all of us. No wonder he wanted nothing to do with it and asked God to take it back.

Luke 10:16 (ESV)
16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

We have an opportunity to be with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and the first step is to give up our will for God’s, to accept Christ as who he says he is.

Everything else is just chasing wind.