Ecclesiastes 11:1-6
Notes
Transcript
Act based upon what you don’t know
Act based upon what you don’t know
This sounds reckless and foolish. It is needful to consider from what perspective this is being given.
Illustration: Pastor coming to car wash with hat saying “I’m their leader which way did they go.” This seems to suggest that the leaders has some identity with the people, but is trying to do things according to their liking in order to get them to follow him. It obviously is not working.
If the leader/ Creator is giving signs of confusion, then there is cause to worry. The perspective of Ecclesiastes is not giving us the perspective of a confused creator, he giving us all the dilemmas of life from the perspective of the created: Some of the examples have included: life is cyclic in nature, we can’t know the times, wise and the foolish both face the same end. This reflective wisdom however actually shows us how to live wisely now.
So this wisdom advice is not given because of a confused creator but because of the limits of us as creatures.
When faced with unknown, we sinfully can cower down in fear or remain inflexible
Illustration: We are used to games like Clue. Here is what you know, figure out the unknowns.
What can you not know?
What can you not know?
1 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.
Correct observation does not make you the master.
You can see the general laws of sowing and reaping.
You can see how things work many times- rain clouds bring rain. Wind moves things. Trees fall.
But here is what you don’t know?
When the yield comes
How much the yield will be
If the venture will totally fail
How things work
You can set up the wind mill but you don’t know where the wind comes from; nor can you command the wind.
Doctors have observed the process of the development of a baby in the womb; however they have no control over the process; they can’t determine which cells will become fingers or toes.
So based upon what you don’t know how do you act?
Just do something/ the next thing
Just do something/ the next thing
1 Cast your bread upon the waters,
For you will find it after many days.
The suggested imagery of trading with ships in order to get gain.
Sowing does have reaping
There are risks
There is a boldness in the action
There is a long term perspective
Don’t be rigid in your action
Don’t be rigid in your action
2 Give a serving to seven, and also to eight,
For you do not know what evil will be on the earth.
This could be a call for generosity. Don’t hoard for security.
This could be a call for actions that does not put all of ones resources and hopes on one earthly plan or person
Don’t wait for the ideal moment
Don’t wait for the ideal moment
4 He who observes the wind will not sow,
And he who regards the clouds will not reap.
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.
Action based upon what you can see will not happen.
There is continuous and vigorous
What are your hoarding hunkering down safety tactics?
Give your resources, time, money
Worldly wisdom builds bunkers and barns to prepare for disaster. Biblical wisdom instead throws open the windows and doors of our homes and builds schools and hospitals and churches, and sees rich Christians become much, much poorer than they might otherwise have been. Ecclesiastes-type wisdom, Christlike wisdom, grows believers who spend their life on living in the world rather than on living in the world so as not to die.
Gibson, David. Living Life Backward (p. 126). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Don’t fear failure
Do the next thing- bring a meal, send a card, listen to their stories. Do it continually and regularly.
Don’t tie your hopes up in one person, one
The Preacher is telling us that a life that depends only on success for its vitality and has no space for the unpredictable, or a life that shelters itself from the prospect of failure because it has space only for the predictable, is a kind of being undead, which isn’t really being alive. Life is gift, not gain. Give up your pursuit of profit from your toil and instead seek to enjoy the things that God has given you for what they are, and as you do that, you will know some reward. If what you seek to do is control your life, to map it out and insulate yourself from all risk and all failure, then what you’ve forgotten is that you cannot control what only God can control. You will never know the delight of doing something that can give you back a reward that you weren’t expecting.
Gibson, David. Living Life Backward (p. 129). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Gibson, David. Living Life Backward (p. 126). Crossway. Kindle Edition.