Proverbs 11:29: He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
Back in 1955 Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee wrote a play which was a fictionalized account of the Scopes trial. They used the idea of creation verse evolution as a metaphor to address the senseless hysteria, fear and panic that grew out of the McCarthy hearings of the early 1950’s. They used the expression from Proverbs 11:29, Inherit the Wind, as the title of the play to show how McCarthy brought senseless trouble (hysteria, fear and panic) upon the nation and in the end he achieved nothing. When there were far more important issues within the nation: racism, poverty, illnesses such as the polio epidemic and many other important issues that we needed to focus on, McCarthy built his platform on the issue of communist infiltrating the government and our society. As it turned out the threat was minimal and countless innocent lives were ruined by one man bringing trouble (hysteria, fear and panic) upon a nation for his own personal gain. He ended up inheriting the wind or accomplishing nothing.
Things have not changed as many today will seek to build a platform by playing on the fears of people for a threat that is really a minimal threat and as a result diverting our attention away from the important issues. This is played out by the scientist who achieves a sort of fame by making public his findings on a certain food group that causes a serious illness without having his research seriously reviewed by others with similar credentials and then later to be contradicted when his research is found flawed. It is played out by politicians who build their platforms by turning their opponents into evil self-seeking individuals who are out to destroy the nation rather than on possible resolutions to the key issues he would be able to address if elected. It is also played out in religion where someone will build a platform by focusing the attention of believers on issues that have no eternal value and play on their fleshly fears. They bring division and trouble into their own house (the church) and end up with just grasping at the wind, empty air.
The word trouble in Hebrew as used in Proverbs 11:29 is ‘okar which has the idea of bringing confusion and fear into the heart of another person to gain a personal advantage over that person. I John 4:18 tells us that perfect love cast out all fear. God is perfect in love and therefore there is no fear in God. God does not use fear to achieve control. However, for the enemy this is his greatest tool. When we use ‘okar (creating a sense of fear) to establish control we will only achieve the wind. People give their tithes over fear that God will punish them, they go to church out of fear that if they do not go bad things will happen to them, they even accept Jesus as their Savior out of fear that if they do not they will go to hell. I mean isn’t a loving God with arms wide open pleading for a person to step into those arms so he can hug them and love them enough of an incentive? I remember reading a story where a volunteer fireman ran into his own burning house to rescue his daughter. When a reporter asked if the fireman rescued her she hugged her father and said “No, my father saved me.” God can be a fireman and save you from hell, but He would much rather be a father first and then a fireman.
If you use fear (‘okar) to keep your house in order you will only inherit the wind. The word inherit in Hebrew is yinechal from the root word nichal which is the same word used for a flowing brook. The idea of an inheritance is something that keeps flowing without interruption. When a father passes on, his sons continue what he has started which may be a business or an estate, it continues on without interruption as it just passes from one generation to the next. Hence to nichal (inherit) the wind, means that you not only achieve nothing when you use fear to keep order in your house or church, but that you had nothing from the very beginning. From the very get go you were building your platform or control over something that was irrelevant from the beginning.
The word wind in Hebrew is ruch which is the same word as spirit but has a wide range of meanings. Basically it is a word used for something that is intangible, something that you cannot see or touch and yet you know something is there, you may smell it or even hear it but you cannot see it or feel it. Inherit the wind therefore has the idea of something that is intangible and will remain intangible. To worry over something that never happens, to be fearful of something that is of no threat is to inherit the wind.
I have heard many people talk of great ideas, plans or goals, but never see them become tangible because they let fear of failure stand in their way. If you cast your fear to the wind that fear will just inherit the wind. If you go the church every Sunday, pay your tithe, try to be a good Christian because you fear God will punish you or you might go the hell, you will only inherit the wind. Jesus died on the cross to save you from hell, you do not need to do anything, just accept that gift and you will not go to hell, you need never fear hell. God is perfect love, accept that love and all fears will be cast away. The enemy, however, wants you to ‘okar (be motivated out of fear) so you will not know the love of God and in the end you will only inherit the wind.
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