Tomorrow May Be Too Late - Ecclesiastes 11
Last time we were in Ecclesiastes, we saw Solomon’s Portrait of a Fool in chapter 10. Now, in chapter 11, Solomon is starting to wrap up his thoughts. In my Bible, this chapter titled “Invest in Life.” This may seem to contradict with the concept of laying up our treasures in Heaven (Mt 6:19-21), but these two sets of verses are not at odds at all. They are, in fact, synergistic.
19 “Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 HCSB
And Solomon starts off talking about sharing your physical wealth.
1Send your bread on the surface of the waters, for after many days you may find it.
2 Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don’t know what disaster may happen on earth.
Dr Howard Kelly, one of the founding physicians of Johns Hopkins Hospital kept a journal. Two different entries tie together. On a walking trip up through Northern Pennsylvania one spring, Kelly stopped by a small farmhouse for a drink of cool spring water. A little girl answered his knock and instead of water brought him a glass of fresh milk. After a short friendly visit, he went on his way. Some years later, that same little girl came to him for an operation. Just before she left for home, her bill was brought into the room and across its face was written in a bold hand, “Paid in full with one glass of milk.”
That is the idea that Solomon is relaying in these first two verses. Don’t be greedy. When you have surplus, share it. That little girl had no way of knowing that simple glass of milk would be remembered or have an impact on her future. That story about Dr. Kelly and the little girl giving him the glass of milk has been greatly embellished and passed around on the internet. But the truth is, Dr. Kelly actually charged very high amounts to his patients who could afford it and used that money to offset the costs for those who couldn’t afford it. Knowing that, it would seem Dr. Kelly recognized his previous benefactor was not in the best shape financially as an adult. He had a chance to share his wealth and repay someone who had blessed him earlier in his life.
We have no guarantees that our bread will come back to us. Solomon says, “after many days you MAY find it.” So we shouldn’t share our blessings with the idea that it will come back to us in the future. This isn’t the idea of trying to fund our retirement. This is not the wealth and prosperity gospel. But in the New Testament, we do read this in Luke 6:37-38, “Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over -will be poured back into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Solomon seems to be more focused on the commonsense wisdom there. Look again at verse 2.
2 Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don’t know what disaster may happen on earth.
Remember the story of Joseph and all the grain he collected in Egypt? He stored the grain in every city. (Genesis 41:48) We all recognize the wisdom of not putting all our eggs in one basket. And Solomon relays that same idea here. There is a second idea here also. If you are liberal to those around you in your times of abundance, you create goodwill that could be useful or necessary in the lean times.
3 If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or the north, the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
This verse reminds me of the old question, “If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?” That’s not what Solomon is saying though. There are certain natural events that will happen independent of our plans or intentions. When the clouds get full, no one can stop the rain from falling. When the tree falls, no one can change its direction. Even when we try to control the direction of a falling tree, it can still be beyond our control. I remember once when I was little, Dad and Grandpa were cutting some trees at Grandpa and Grandma’s house. In spite of ropes on the trees, and notching the trees, and pulling on the ropes as the tree started to fall, they managed to land not one, but two different trees across the windshields of their trucks.
4 One who watches the wind will not sow, and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap.
This verse is addressing procrastination. While there are natural events we cannot control, there are still things that need doing in this life. If we wait for the perfect weather, we won’t get the seed in the ground when it needs to be planted. If we wait for the perfect weather, we won’t harvest when we need to. What happens if you don’t plant or harvest at the right time? Your crop might not amount to anything. But what happens if you don’t plant or harvest? Your crop definitely will not amount to anything. Tomorrow may be too late.
5 Just as you don’t know the path of the wind, or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.
I love this verse. We think that we are so advanced in our knowledge, but we are still are unsuccessful in predicting the weather. We can come close, sometimes, but how often is the forecast wrong? We may be able to identify the major wind patterns, easterly or westerly or the trade winds, but I challenge anyone to predict the path of each breath of wind, or even when the next breeze will come.
How do bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman? We think we have a pretty good idea, knowing about the division of cells, but we still haven’t figured out how to trigger pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into bone cells in an organized pattern, without putting them on a template. How does God make those cells form bones in baby? We don’t know.
Some scientists will tell us they have it all figured out. I heard this story a while back.
A scientist approaches God and says to Him: “God, we don’t need You anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing. We can now do what You did in the beginning.”
“Oh, is that so?” replies God.
“Yes,” says the scientist, “We can take dirt and form it into a human likeness, and breathe life into it, thus, creating man.”
“Well, that’s very interesting,” God said. “Show Me.”
So the scientist reaches down, grabs a handful of dirt, and starts to mold the soil into the shape of a man.
“No, no,” interrupts God, “Get your own dirt!” (http://saltforsermons.org.uk/get-your-own-dirt/)
6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hand rest, because you don’t know which will succeed, whether one or the other, or if both of them will be equally good.
Solomon continues to remind us that we can’t predict the future. He phrases it positively, but success is never guaranteed. We have been raising sunflowers this summer, and Kari planted a set of seeds about every week for several weeks. We knew about how long it was supposed to take the sunflowers to be ready, but based on our experience last year, we knew that “Supposed to,” and “are,” can be two very disparate realities. Tomorrow may be too late.
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun.
How many sunsets or sunrises have you missed over the years because it’s always there? You think you can watch the sunrise whenever you want to, or a sunset, because it is always gonna be there. James says, we are not promised tomorrow.
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 14 You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes. 15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it. (James 4:13-17)
Solomon is pointing out that we need to take advantage of the good things in life when we have the opportunity. Friday afternoon, we went to the beach for a bit, because it was a beautiful day. We certainly had other things we could have been doing, and maybe should have been doing, but we don’t know when the next opportunity to take the girls to the beach on a warm sunny day would be. Tomorrow may be too late.
8 Indeed, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many. All that comes is futile.
How much of our lives is wasted by regret? Solomon says we should be mindful of the dark days, ‘cuz there will be plenty of them, but that our overall theme in life should be rejoicing. Be grateful for every day you get. In Phillipians 4:4, Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
I know I struggle with this. One little thing goes wrong and I think the day is ruined. Imagine if we let the little good things determine our day, instead? There is a book by Richard Carlson, called, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, and it’s All Small Stuff. I’d like to read you the introduction.
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude. -WILLIAM JAMES Whenever we're dealing with bad news, a difficult person, or a disappointment of some kind, most of us get into certain habits, ways of reacting to life - particularly adversity - that don't serve us very well. We overreact, blow things out of proportion, hold on too tightly, and focus on the negative aspects of life. When we are immobilized by little things - when we are irritated, annoyed, and easily bothered our (over-) reactions not only make us frustrated but actually get in the way of getting what we want. We lose sight of the bigger picture, focus on the negative, and annoy other people who might otherwise help us. In short, we live our lives as if they were one great big emergency! We often rush around looking busy, trying to solve problems, but in reality, we are often compounding them. Because everything seems like such a big deal, we end up spending our lives dealing with one drama after another. After a while, we begin to believe that everything really is a big deal. We fail to recognize that the way we relate to our problems has a lot to do with how quickly and efficiently we solve them.”
Solomon said thousand of years ago before Mr. Carlson, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” Tomorrow may be too late.
Verses 9& 10 could be part of the chapter 12, but they are still in this chapter, so let’s talk about them.
9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.
10 Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.
Here is that forward looking and backwards that wise people are able to do. Solomon is looking back and giving advice to the young, but also looking forward to the judgment. He reminds us not to wish our lives away. I have recently been hearing Alyeska say, “I wish I were older so I could . . .” and I remember when I was a kid, thinking, “I can’t wait until I’m old enough to drive, or old enough to vote, or old enough to pick what I want for dinner every night.” Or any of probably a hundred other things. I imagine that this is probably a pretty universal thing. But what happens when we grow up? Sometimes we start wishing we were kids again, so we didn’t have to deal with all the “grown-up stuff,” right? Stop wishing your life away. Solomon says focus on the here and now. But he cautions about being hedonistic, reminding us that Judgment is coming. He says don’t focus on the negative, because tomorrow may be too late.
Several times in the Bible, the admonition is given, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” It is found in Ps 95:7-8, Heb 3:7-11 and 4:7.
I’d like to close with the lyrics of #454 in our song books.
“Today is the day of Salvation, Tomorrow may be too late. There’s danger and death in delaying. Accept God’s saving Grace; His life on the cross He has given, Oh come while yet you may, He’s earnestly pleading, Oh make no delay,
Tomorrow may be too late.
If you need to respond to the invitation, please come forward while we stand and sing.
