Ecclesiastes 11: 1 – 10
Spectator or Participant
Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. 2 Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth. 3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; And if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie. 4 He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. 5 As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. 6 In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good. 7 Truly the light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun; 8 But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity. 9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; Walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. 10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.
Well, well, here is an interesting supposedly dilemma, chapter 11 only has 10 verses. You might be thinking, ‘How are you gonna get a whole study out of a few verses.’ No problem. If you haven’t learned by now, my problem is keeping studies short. So, let us take a crack at reviewing our Precious Holy Spirit’s awesome wisdom.
‘And now brethren, let us cast our bread upon the waters.’ Sounds like a nice speech from a minister who lived during the 1800’s. But joking aside, verse 1 is a beautiful stanza, ‘Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.’ This statement emphasizes the element of risk and uncertainty of our business activities. We have read in the last passages of chapter 10 these directions;
“16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning! 17 Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes feast at the proper time— for strength and not for drunkenness! 18 Because of laziness the building decays, and through idleness of hands the house leaks. 19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry; But money answers everything. 20 Do not curse the king, even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; For a bird of the air may carry your voice, and a bird in flight may tell the matter.”
These previous passages deal with royalty and leaders. Solomon now focuses on the common people in verses 1 through 6. How many here know what tomorrow will bring? If you do, let’s talk later. We do not know what will happen when we do things. We do not know how our Wonderful God will have planned for us in the near future. Missing this information though should not hinder us from making valuable and productive use of each day. Remember what our Holy Master said to us as recorded in the Gospel of John chapter 5, “31 “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. 33 You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. 35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. 36 But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. 37 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. 41 “I do not receive honor from men. 42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
I like the statement that we are to live and work as though our Wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Is coming back today and plan as though He isn’t. We need to venture forth in faith if we are to be successful even though we do not know what efforts will be blessed or which efforts will fail.
The Apostle Paul I believe takes us this point in his letter to the Galatians in chapter 6, “7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
Have you ever heard this statement, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’. This is where this statement came from. If you dissect this verse you see some significant actions needed.
1. ‘cast’ It is a decision for action to be taken
2. ‘Your bread’ – something of value to you must be ventured
3. ‘after many days’ – develops patience in waiting for results
4. ‘find it’ – reward for taking the step of faith
Look at the next nugget of gold, 2 Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth.”
The idea here is generosity. Numbers have significant meaning in the bible. The number 1 speaks of priority. ‘Hear oh Israel, the LORD our God Is One.” The number two speaks of unity. The number 3 of the Godhead - The Blessed Holy Trinity. and of strength – a threefold cord is not easily broken. The number four deals with the world – N, S, E, W. The number 5 represents grace. The number 6 deals with mankind which always falls short of perfection which is the number 7. The number 8 signifies a new beginning. So, the verse would read then, ‘give perfectly and even some more.’
The author suggests by this that we step out in faith in doing good things while at the same time being wise. How so? When you invest in something you want to derive the highest return on your investment, right? You do not put all your eggs in the same basket. You diversify your investing into a few good ministries. If something turns out to be a bad investment you are not bankrupt. I love what our Precious Teacher tells us in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 13, “12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” I want to be in the group that has the more. How about you?
Solomon zeros in on our tendency to do nothing because we are unsure of what might happen.
3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; And if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie. 4 He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
I look around at some of the people around me and sadly they do not have a clue of what is going on in the world. Sometimes the statement, ‘ignorance is bliss’ is true, but ignorance all the time isn’t. A wise person will understand the times and season and prepare accordingly. If the weather man says it is going to rain. Oh, wait a minute never mind that analogy. If it looks like it is going to rain then a person will prepare and use it to his or her advantage. Here is a great tidbit that you can use in the future. Why is it a good omen when it rains during a wedding? You see we use to be an agricultural society. So, if it was scheduled to rain then people would not have to do their outside farming and would probably attend the wedding ceremony. See, I told you it was a worthless tidbit. But I know you will use it, right?
Just because it appears that a tree is leaning in another direction, does not mean it might fall on your house instead. It is no good wishing afterwards that it had fallen where it appeared it would go. In other words, even though you cannot control things does not mean you ignore the potential incident. Do not join the Procrastinators club.
You cannot change what is possibly going to happen but you can prepare. You know in today’s world. We all need to do some type of precaution, like having some food, water, power, and emergency plans. This does not mean that we do not trust our Holy Master for our lives. However, we should have short time emergency preparation.
I was at a Pastor’s retreat a few years ago and at lunch we were listening to some crazy Christians from Bangor, Maine who were supposed experts at chopping down trees. They shared about one of their friends who had a brand new pick up truck who refused to move his truck because he knew that the tree would not fall anywhere near his truck. Yep, you guessed it. The tree fell smack on top of the guy’s truck.
Now having warned about the need to take precautions, Solomon now tells us the flip side, that is the problems associated with being too cautious. If you analyze everything to death before you venture forth to do the task, you will not get anything accomplished.
5 As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything.
We need to respond to the opportunities that our Holy Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High – has given us. Why? Because we do not know how God works. Even with all the knowledge and ability we have today we are ignorant of a lot of things such as the secrets of the wind or of the human body. As mentioned before can the weather man accurately predict what will happen with storms? People go in for surgery for minor conditions and do not come out. Why? Because of unforeseen complications.
God Is in control of all things. For me this is a great comfort. Our very breaths are in His hand. He can do whatever He wants to do. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. He is Immortal, Invisible, the Everlasting God. Me, well, I am just a peace of the earth or in Philly vernacular ‘I am just a dirt ball.’
6 In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
I like this attitude our Precious Holy Spirit wants us to have. Please notice the sowing in the morning and the evening. Because we do not know how our Holy Mighty Ruler will respond to our efforts, why not go all out. Perhaps He might bless both endeavors. If we think if we do say 5 things, our Gracious God might bless one or two of those efforts. The bible tells us in the book of Proverbs chapter 3,” 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” And in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 we read, “6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
How do we know which one of our efforts our Holy King will bless? Do as many as you can gives you a better possibility our Sovereign Lord will Bless.
7 Truly the light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun; 8 But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity.
We need to stop and reflect on how short our lives really are. Many of our days will be difficult so we need to appreciate and take advantage of the good ones. I love Moses’ words in Psalm 90, “1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. 3 You turn man to destruction, and say, “Return, O children of men. 4 For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night 5 You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up. 6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers. 7 For we have been consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath we are terrified. 8 You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. 9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. 10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. 14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! 15 Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil. 16 Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. 17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.”
The bottom line is that we need to enjoy the time that we do have and evaluate the future carefully.
Now having described the real facts of life, Solomon now skillfully brings us students back to the solution – that is – our accountability to our Maker.
9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; Walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment.
Who is Solomon addressing? Take a look at the verse again. He is speaking to ‘young men’. Why just them? Have you ever been asked or pondered this question, ‘Would you ever desire to be young again? My answer, is that I would if I could keep the wisdom God has taught me over the years. We learn that we get old too soon and smart too late.
Note what the apostle John said when addressing men in his first letter chapter 2;
12 I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.
I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father.
14 I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the wicked one.
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When we are in the prime of our lives we have this invincibility attitude prevail. We can do all things and participate in all the dangerous sports with fear. However, we get smarter afterwards. We learn how to cheat in order to win. The younger men never expect it.
If I was in charge of the US Military I would change things. I would allow all the old vets who proudly display their former outfits join the active military and let only the younger volunteers enter the service. With all the technical advantages the older men who love everything about the military would be greatly willing to put their lives on the line since they have already had a chance of life. Let the younger people get a chance to enjoy their youth I say. You think I’m kind of nuts for that position. I think I am in agreement with our Holy Father when He says the same thing in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 24, 5 “When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.”
10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.
The young are told to enjoy the fact that they are young and to make the most of their live while at the same time remember that all that they do will be judged. They must remove from their lives anything that will cause distress and sorrow to others and not give way to the evils of the flesh.
Have you ever heard someone who has caused harm to themselves or others by their actions say, ‘It doesn’t really matter.’ Many choices that we do whether good or bad are irreversible. Any questions?
