”Cast your bread upon the waters, for 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.“
Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 ESV
Live boldly for the Lord despite this life’s uncertainties. The passage directly confronts some great challenges we all face about life as Christians. Is our work meaningful? How do we gauge and measure real success?
”Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.“ 1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV
To be clear, Koheleth employs strong poetic imagery here. This presents us with both an occasion for awe and for mystery too. Awe in that the Lord is, indeed, a God of beauty and poetry. Mystery because it presents us with yet another challenge of interpretation – a common issue in wisdom literature.
Some theologians think this passage is teaching us about charitable work. Casting our bread upon the waters, and portions of seven and eight are, in their reckoning, reference to giving a portion of one’s wealth to others. Ryken writes:
“To share seven portions would be the height of generosity. To share eight is to do even more: it is to do everything we can to help others, not using the fear of some coming disaster as an excuse to be stingy, but giving and giving and giving some more. Martin Luther said, “Be generous to everyone while you can, use your riches wherever you can possibly do any good.”
Others regard it as encouragement to productive industry. A way of seeing it is in “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” By spreading our investments – and talents – we wisely limit the chance of a complete bankruptcy. We think that the correct interpretation comes from the entire context of Ecclesiastes, which is God’s absolute sovereignty (and goodness) even in the face of life’s puzzling, even maddening, variety. To this end we’re taught that not knowing what tomorrow holds is not a sin…but it is a sin of omission to use that as a reason to withhold one’s hand from fruitful living. The real life of faith is one of journey through various God-ordained risks. In most cases those risks will involve the use of one’s God-given talents in both vocation and church work. Being risk averse is not to be confused with being the opposite of recklessness. Both are clearly wrong. The former implies not trusting God and burying one’s talents and opportunities due to fear and/or laziness. The latter, recklessness, is putting God to the test and eschewing wisdom and sound counsel.
The Christian life includes thoughtful and faithful activity. The Christian life bears fruit! That we very infrequently know exactly what is going to come of our endeavors doesn’t mean that we’re to live life on the defense. To cast our bread upon the waters is to get busy living out one’s faith and to stretch oneself in the disciplines of vocation, education, service, charity, church-work, personal evangelism, Bible study and prayer. It’s the entire thing, not either-or.
To be sure:
Don’t be paralyzed by fear
Something bad may indeed happen. We certainly don’t know if this or that will be successful. Interestingly, the Bible tells us that these fears are actually logical…they just aren’t the whole story.
Doing things with wisdom, as great as that is, is still no guarantee that everything will work out the way we’d like. “There is therefore no condemnation for those who love God…”. This doesn’t mean there will be no trials. That all things will work together for our good doesn’t mean that every single detail will be pleasant. The Preacher tells us, as always, the unvarnished truth about our lack of sovereignty and the fact that our patience is going to be tested in this life. Fear is a real issue; a true challenge. Faith is the answer because faith is trusting in God – His goodness and His sovereignty. And how are we to trust God while sitting still in life? Faith inspires action.
We don’t know “what disaster might befall us” is a shocking admission. It’s a brutal truth for people who often play nice at church and think that God is a divine Mr. Rogers. It’s brass knuckles theology. It’s strong black coffee. Disasters may or may not come…even to the faithful.
Don’t procrastinate
There’s always a reason to delay. There’s always uncertainty. We say, “maybe the weather will be better…maybe the economy will get stronger…” Ryken says that as long as we think like this that we’ll never accomplish anything. The fool is lazy and Christians are certainly guilty of this sin. To this end we should pray, “who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent of hidden faults and keep back your servant from presumptuous sins…let no sin have dominion over me.” One way to stay humble in life is to prayerfully consider one’s sins of omission – especially procrastination, which is the putting off of Godly work and opportunities. Procrastination is the training ground of the deadly sin of laziness. The Christian life should more and more be marked by activity and effort that’s faith-filled.
Legalism grows in the heart that fails (refuses) to consider the depth of one’s own sins of omission and how very patient God is toward us. To write down on a piece of paper the number of times your heart feels pricked by the Spirit into some activity or enterprise would be a great destroyer of pride and legalism. The liberty of the Christian life is enormous and yet in our hearts we focus, to our hurt, on those things we can’t or shouldn’t do instead. That we aren’t known more by how enterprising and creative we are – that is, His faithful bride, His church – illustrates how legalism is the weed that grows in the fields of fear.
Our God is a God of so much grace and so much creative beauty. How much should we pray and endeavor to reflect these things!
Focus on what you can control!
This is the biblical answer to fear and worry and laziness. And the number one thing we can control is our prayer, worship time, and reading of His word. To make these the central things of life is to know and live the good life!
We can sow our seed. We can plant a church, share the gospel, start a business. And above all, we can praise the Lord. We can pray and study His word too! If we don’t cast our bread – our very lives – upon the water we’ll invariably fall into a life of legalistic pettiness and mediocrity. Instead of abounding in thanks in all things, our lives will stagnate. Instead of being preoccupied with what the Lord is doing for us and in us, we’ll obsess about “out there” – that is, other people and organizations and society. To focus on what we control is to focus on our reaction to the Lord’s word and will in our lives. This should be our obsession and joy. Even if this or that doesn’t work out. The Christian spirit is to live a life that goes to the Father with everything and says, “Look, Daddy…look what I’m doing…!”
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