A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on September 24, 2023.
Cast your bread upon the waters, or you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. 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 the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity (Ecclesiastes 11:1-10).[1]
Give Generously
“Cast your bread upon the waters,” Solomon says, “for you will find it after many days” (11:1). Casting a fly upon the water, I get, “bread” I don’t. It sounds like silly advice for a soggy meal, doesn’t it? But if “bread” is a metaphor for money used to acquire life’s necessities, then casting connotes investing or giving, which aligns with the following verse:
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth (11:2).
This advice is continued in verse six with the imperative, “sow your seed” and “withhold not your hand” (11:6). Solomon, who has repeatedly directed us to appreciate, engage in, and industriously pursue work, now is advising us on investing and giving.
What Solomon means may include an admonition for diversification, bread upon the waters like merchant ships bound for trade, but also distribution: Distributing wisely and giving generously to seven, eight, and more. But implied in this generosity is reciprocity. Rather than hoard, we are to cast; rather than keep, we are to give. That which we cast is given, not as loss but paradoxically as gain. Just as investing requires wise consideration on the front end and patience through the term, giving is a kind of investing in the needs of others, providing a return on our investment in the providence of God.
This is the way giving works, as Jesus explained, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38). It makes no sense to the miser, but the cheerful giver knows, “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6). It sounds counter-intuitive, especially to anyone who has not embraced giving or developed the discipline to do it, but the giver knows from experience. In terms of God’s provision, it makes no sense for us not to give. This is not to say that what we receive will be the same in kind, but blessed we will be, because we trust in him who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
But there is a broader message to Solomon’s counsel that includes our generosity but also our diligence. As we cast our bread and give our portion, we must remember that we “know not what disaster may happen on earth” (11:2). When we think about potential “disaster,” it is our tendency to draw back, to withhold our gifts and hoard what we have. Though this makes sense in the earthly kingdom, that is not the way of the kingdom of God. As we sow our seed and withhold not our hand, we must remember that we “do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good” (11:6). This means that giving generously is not based on abundance or certainty but trust in God. We are not to wait until our personal finances improve or until our situation stabilizes to begin giving. Not giving implies a lack of trust in the Giver of all good things (Jas. 1:17).
Trusting God in giving then is godly, as our heavenly Father has demonstrated in giving us the greatest gift: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Even the faith required for our salvation is a gift: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). In fact, God has given us “everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Pet. 1:3). And as recipients of God’s riches bestowed upon us, we too should give generously for the glory of God.
Work Diligently
Some argue that they will give once life gets settled, once there is greater certainty in their circumstances. Do you know when that happens? It doesn’t. Life is uncertain … and then you die. So, stop waiting for the perfect circumstances, and don’t let life’s uncertainties lead you to worry, fear, procrastination, or sloth, among other things. Jesus said, “do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt. 6:34). Rather, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).
Solomon says, look to the natural world and learn:
If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie (11:3).
Rain clouds produce rain. Falling trees fall. Giving people give. And industrious people produce.
We were not created to be merely consumers but doers, called to work diligently and keep creation.
If you are sitting around waiting for the ideal conditions, waiting for life to present you with the perfect scenario, even wallowing in your self-pity, you’re like the farmer who observes the wind but will not sow, who regards the clouds but will not reap (11:4). Do you know what kind of farmer that is? A broke one, one who does not work diligently and cannot give generously. That’s no way to live life. Look, your circumstances are neither your Creator, nor your Sustainer, and they better not be your God.
God breathed life into Adam, and human life has continued ever since. What started in your mother’s womb resulted in your life today, a gift from God. Why he chose to create you, you don’t know: “you do not know the work of God who makes everything” (11:5). So, leave life’s uncertainties to God, who needs neither your work nor worry. Rather, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Eccles. 9:10), for your “chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”[2]
Walk Wisely
Since life is uncertain, building our happiness contingently upon it is foolish. Instead, we must accept that life is indeed uncertain and enjoy what God provides. Let me explain this with a personal question: When was the last time you stopped to enjoy the beauty of the sunrise or sunset? When was the last time you paused to say, or simply acknowledge, that it’s a beautiful day? Have you ever experienced extended periods of time without sunlight? Did they not cause you to appreciate the sun’s light even more? Solomon says, “Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun” (11:7). So, enjoy this amazing blessing of God’s common grace, and through it, let your heart meditate upon the beauty of life and the grace God gives to live it day by day.
Life is short, “vanity,” as the Hebrew word is translated, but a breath and then we’re gone. So, don’t take life for granted but enjoy every year he gives. For some, those years are short, for others they are many. Our responsibility is to rejoice in what God gives, living as wise stewards of what has been entrusted to us. Life, like each morning’s light, is a gift.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that life is easy or free of difficulty. As the aged among us would remind us, with many years comes some dark days. Some days can seem like endless nights. The question isn’t whether dark days will come but how will we live in them? Will tomorrow be better than yesterday? How do you know? There is no guarantee that the future will be better than the past or the present. Amidst difficulty, our tendency is to romanticize yesterday, take today for granted, and hope for better tomorrow. Benjamin Shaw says, “But to think that way, and to live that way, is to live in a fantasy world.”[3]
Let me give you an example to make this sober point. James Stockdale was one of the highest-ranking naval officers during the Vietnam War. He was also a prisoner of war (POW) for over seven years, during which he was repeatedly tortured and given no reason to believe he would make it out alive. But he did. When he was interviewed years later, Stockdale was asked, “Who didn’t make it out?” To which he responded, “Oh, that’s easy … The optimists.” He went on to explain,
they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.
As if paraphrasing Solomon, Stockdale said, “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”[4]
James Stockdale was no pessimist, but he did understand that in this life under the sun, we must embrace the reality of our situation without losing hope in God’s provision. For, our hope is not circumstantial but resurrected and ascended. As the apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians,
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:1-3).
So, let us “rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Rom. 12:12). We may delight in the sunlight even in the darkness.
Trust Willingly
This is wisdom for all ages, but especially for those who are prone to the captivity of their emotions. Whenever I hear someone say that they feel like they must do something, or they just have a feeling about it, it gives me pause. Not because feelings are bad, but feelings are fickle, yours and mine, and therefore untrustworthy. How I feel about something is subject to change, so why would I trust my feelings? The worst advice you can give anyone is tell them to follow their heart. So, why then does Solomon say, “Walk in the ways of your heart …” (11:9)?
Some things get lost in translation, literally, such as the word “heart,” a word used three times in these last two verses. In the modern sense of the word, “heart” is often used to represent the seat of our emotions, our feelings. But the Hebrew word, translated “heart” in the Old Testament, is not the seat of the emotions but the intellect, our understanding. So, when Solomon tells the “young man” in his “youth” to let his “heart” cheer him and to “walk in the ways” of his “heart,” his advice is not to live by the fickle whims of his feelings but rather to rejoice in the wisdom God gives to live, decerning wisely and behaving accordingly.
What Solomon describes is captured well in a word from the Latin translation of Psalm 55, coram Deo, meaning “in the presence of God” or “before the face of God.”[5] When her granddaughter began to misbehave, a wise grandmother told her, “We must behave ourselves, because God is watching us.” To which her granddaughter responded, “No he’s not. We’re inside.” But the fact is, every moment of our existence is coram Deo, and every thought, word, and deed, for “all these things God will bring you into judgment” (11:9). There is no “inside” in which we are hidden from God.
Such a thought can be daunting, but for those in Christ it should be liberating! Consider that by God’s grace through faith in Christ, you stand not in your own but the righteousness of Christ. Consider that all who are in Christ have been given the guarantee of his Spirit; we are in the presence of God, indeed. Consider that “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29-30). Therefore, remove the weight of your worry and cast off the cares of sin: give generously, work diligently, walk wisely, and trust willingly. Embrace the life God has given you, with its sunrises and dark nights, for the light of our life is the light of the world, and “in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] “The Shorter Catechism” Q. 1, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 355.
[3] Benjamin Shaw, Ecclesiastes: Life in a Fallen World (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2019), 148.
[4] https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/Stockdale-Concept.html
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