Risk, Investment, And Getting Old - Ecclesiastes 11:1-12:8 Series

11:1 Send 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. 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. 4 One who watches the wind will not sow, and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap. 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. 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. 7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun. 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. 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.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 So remember your Creator in the days of your youth: Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, "I have no delight in them"; 2 before the sun and the light are darkened, and the moon and the stars, and the clouds return after the rain; 3 on the day when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, the women who grind cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly, 4 the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song grow faint. 5 Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry has no effect; for man is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will walk around in the street; 6 before the silver cord is snapped, and the gold bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken into the well; 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 "Absolute futility," says the Teacher. "Everything is futile."

Introduction

Are you prepared for the future? As we have studied through Ecclesiastes we have seen that there are a lot of pretty rough things that happen in this fallen world – are you ready for them?

“How can I be ready for them if I don’t even know what they are going to be?”

That is the question Solomon is going to answer for us in the last two chapters of the book. He gives us two crucial principles for preparing for the future.

Invest

11:1 Send your bread on the surface of the waters, for after many days you will find it.

There are two different ways this verse has commonly been interpreted. One way has been to take it as a reference to giving to people in need. And that is a possibility. There are strong arguments in favor of that view. I really wrestled back and forth, but I finally came to the conclusion that that is not what the author is getting at. The context is not about generosity. The verses that follow are all about investments and risk taking. And for that reason most of the scholars I read agree that that is the topic here in verse 1 as well. The first word should be translated “send” not “cast.” And he specifies the surface of the water. Send your bread across the surface of the water. The word bread can represent your livelihood in general (kind of like our term “breadwinner”). It is used that way back in Ecclesiastes 9:11, where it is parallel with the word riches. So the point here is to take your income and engage in maritime trade – investing and doing business overseas. That was something Solomon did.

1 Kings 10:22 the king had ships … and once every three years the ships … would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.