In this special New Year’s Day sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines and explains Ecclesiastes 11:1-6. In this passage, King Solomon exhorts you to three resolutions in order to risk well for Christ while you can.
Resolution 1: I Will Not Hoard My Treasures But Invest Them Boldly and Generously (vv. 1-2)
Resolution 2: I Will Not Analyze Endlessly But Use Wisdom Humbly and Sufficiently (vv. 3-5)
Resolution 3: I Will Not Despair over the Future But Work Diligently and Hopefully (v. 6)
Full Transcript:
Let’s pray as we now come to hear from God in His word. Lord, God, we need Your wisdom for a new year. You have sustained us this previous year, but Lord, how will we make it? How will we live this next year well unless You are with us? Unless You instruct and empower us. God, teach us from Your word today. Help me be able to declare it well, accurately, and clearly. Transform us. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.
Some of you may know that I studied English literature in college. History too, but English literature was one of my majors. One famous poem that has always stuck with me from my college days is called the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S Elliot. Don’t be confused by the title. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is no mushy-gushy celebration of love. It’s actually an instructive tragedy.
This poem is written in what’s called a stream-of-consciousness style. As if we, the readers, are hearing a certain middle-aged man named Prufrock as he talks to and even argues with himself in his mind as he nervously sets out to attend a tea party with the lady that he admires.
At this tea party, Prufrock intends to tell this educated and elegant woman something important. Perhaps he intends to confess his feelings for her and asks her whether she has feelings for him. Or instead, maybe he wants to share with her some profound realization he’s made about life, maybe to impress her or to help her.
The climactic moment, though, in the poem comes about three-quarters of the way through with the following lines. I will read them to you.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis? But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed, though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter, I am no prophet—and here’s no great matter; I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, and I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, and in short, I was afraid.
In the poem, Prufrock arrives at the moment of decision, and his fears confront him as if a vision from the future. And what does he decide to do? Well, despite all of his efforts to prepare and ask his lady the overwhelming question, he ultimately decides not even to attend the party. He’s just too afraid of her reaction and of the embarrassment of potentially misunderstanding her. He decides that he doesn’t have the strength or the smarts to see his task through, so he just goes home.
Yet the final stanza of the poem reveals that Prufrock does not feel happiness or relief at his abandoned resolution. Instead, he feels despair. He describes himself as if he were shrinking, aging, wasting away. He says,
I grow old… I grow old… I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
The poem basically ends with the speaker resigning himself to a weakness-filled life without any real joy.
You might ask, well, what’s the point of such a depressing poem? Some say the poem is a lament over modern masculinity or the lack thereof. But more straightforwardly, the poem is a cautionary tale about the fearful path of inaction.
Though you might sympathize with poor Prufrock hearing about what happens to him, you surely do not want to end up like him. Figuratively old and dead, even while you might be young and certainly alive. Full of regret about not taking the chances for good that were presented to you in life. You don’t want that. Instead, you want to be courageous, taking action, and speaking up because who knows how a situation might end up if you just try?
I mention this poem to you this morning because I think we Christians can fall into a similar kind of trap as T.S Elliot’s fictional character. Have you ever faced a nervous argument in your own mind when it comes to doing something for the Lord? Maybe telling someone else about Jesus? Or confronting sin or error that is bringing somebody down?
Have you ever had an opportunity to serve the Lord in a certain, needed, and special way but then you thought about the risks and what it might cost you? Risk to your reputation, your relationships, your finances, resources, your time, and maybe your health? Have you ever been paralyzed by an action because you feared failure? I think we all have, whether man or woman, child or adult.
As we look back over this past year and look forward to the next year, I think now is a great time to assess whether we are really making the most of our quickly passing days. In the flesh, there’s always going to be a temptation to take the easier, lazier, seemingly risk-free path. Don’t try to do anything that’s actually meaningful or anything that is going to take hard work, anything that is even slightly dangerous. Don’t say anything controversial that will make people uncomfortable or offended. Just keep it nice. Keep it polite. Keep it shallow.
Better yet, don’t talk to people at all. Just stay home, isolate, don’t spend time with believers, and don’t spend time with unbelievers. Just watch TV, play video games, pursue your little hobbies, skulk on social media, and just watch while others do things with their lives. Does that sound like a state you would want to end up in? I’m guessing not.
If not, then we need to prepare to persevere against the flesh, persevere against our corrupt world system, and persevere against the evil one. If we want to be real Christians, if we really want to honor the Lord and enjoy life as God meant us to do, then by God’s Spirit, we must act, serve, and speak in ways that really matter. Ways that will require persevering through hard work and enduring risks. Ways that will also involve, at times, awkward conversations and maybe strained relationships, but ways that will, in the end, be truly satisfying to us and pleasing to our Lord.
My brothers and sisters, I tell you for your own soul’s sake that this upcoming year you cannot afford to play it safe. Rather, you and I must resolve to risk well for Christ. We don’t have to rely on T.S Elliot for this exhortation or instruction. We can actually find this wisdom in a surer and much more authoritative source, the Lord’s own word.
Please take your Bibles and open up to the book of Ecclesiastes 11:1-6. The title of today’s message is Resolve to Risk Well. Ecclesiastes 11:1-6. If you’re using the pew Bible, you can find that on page 677. And if you know that we went through the book of Ecclesiastes together a little over a year ago, this is my favorite passage from the book of Ecclesiastes, and I thought it would be profitable to return here for this New Year’s Day.
Remember that the book of Ecclesiastes, this great wisdom book written by an aged and repentant King Solomon, is all about how to live life well in a world that is fundamentally vaporous. Where due to the curse of sin that has overcome the world, everything is fleeting, mysterious, and unsatisfying. Anyone looking for ultimate profit, gain, or happiness and security in the things and experiences of the world, well, they’re just going to end up frustrated, grasping at vapor. That’s the way the world is.
In contrast, those who in humble fear of God accept life for what it is and thankfully embrace the portion that God gives to him or her in this life. They can not only enjoy this life but live it well before Him. That’s what we’ve been called to do.
The key, though, as Solomon emphasizes to us again and again in this book, is acting with wisdom in the fear of God. Wisdom, while it cannot guarantee that everything will go well for you in life, like you’ll never get sick or get in trouble, wisdom can’t do that, but wisdom is nevertheless the best equipment and protection you can have for facing life. It can rescue you in situations that seemingly have no way to move forward.
This part of Ecclesiastes where we’re in today, and actually spanning from chapters nine through twelve, is all about embracing a certain basic but critical piece of wise counsel. What’s that counsel? Namely, stop waiting around but use your life well while you can. Use your life to the full while you can. As we say today, with a certain phrase, carpe diem, seize the day, or you can translate that more literally and say, pluck the ripe day.
Solomon tells us that life is short and the future is uncertain, but death and God’s assessment after death are certain. If there is true good before the Lord that you can accomplish and experience right now, then what are you waiting for?
This is Solomon’s prodding counsel to us in the book of Ecclesiastes in this section. To be more specific about these six verses we’re looking at today, in Ecclesiastes 11:1-6, Solomon takes this carpe diem concept, and he considers how those walking in wisdom and the fear of God should think about risks. How should those who want to make the most of life while they can respond to risk?
Let’s now hear Solomon explain. Speaking by the Spirit of God in our passage, Ecclesiastes 11:1-6,
Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days. 2 Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not what misfortune may occur on the earth. 3 If the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies. 4 He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. 5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.
6 Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.
In the face of the uncertain, vapor-like nature of life, each of us could easily be drawn like poor Prufrock into a scared kind of stupor. Become so afraid of making the wrong move that we decide to make no moves at all. Or we become so pessimistic about experiencing good or accomplishing something for God that we don’t even bother to try. These are the exact opposites of the wisdom of Solomon and the wisdom of God right from our passage.
You’ve got to make moves in your life because your life is moving whether you like it or not. You might be surprised at how often you will find success and good if you simply try with wisdom.
Solomon shows us today that it ought to be our resolution not to completely avoid risks in life but to risk well, to take wise risks for the Lord’s sake and for your own. What does that look like? Solomon is going to show us three main ways. And considering that it is New Year’s Day, I thought I would frame these as three resolutions for you to adopt.
In Ecclesiastes 11:1-6, Solomon exhorts you to three resolutions in order to risk well for Christ. We’ll go through each of these as we work our way through the passage. The first resolution comes from verses one through two. I will give this to you in first-person form.
Resolution one for you to adopt, I will not hoard my treasures but invest them boldly and generously. Look at verse 1,
Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.
This is a very famous saying from the book of Ecclesiastes. It regards risk and reward. But even though it’s famous, at first glance, it makes little logical sense. Why would I throw my bread into the water? Am I trying to feed ducks? I’m not going to find it after many days if I do that. And even if I did find it, it’s going to be all soggy—why would I still want it?
It may be that this saying, cast your bread upon the waters, was simply an idiom, a phrase or saying that made good sense to the Hebrews at the time because they had a certain context for it which we lack. It doesn’t make sense to us, but it probably made sense to them.
Whatever way it was supposed to be understood, I think we get what this saying is pointing us towards. Solomon is exhorting us, even commanding us, to take surprising and even risk-laden action because such action will prove profitable in the end.
If there is a way that this phrase would make sense to us now, Solomon could possibly be referring to overseas trade. The word translated cast here literally means to stretch out, send, or let go of. The Hebrew word for bread could mean literal bread or just refer to food or life necessities in general.
We can understand the exhortation of verse 1 in this way, let go of, send out your life provisions on or over the surface of the waters. Is that an action that would carry risk? Of course. You never know what might happen at sea, and the Hebrews were not particularly skilled at seafaring. There are pirates at sea, storms, and shipwrecks.
Giving away or trading your food, well, what if you run out back home? It’s not like you can just go to a supermarket. At least in those days, food wasn’t as readily available then as it is now. Don’t you think it’d just be safer to hang onto or hoard all of our food, not to send it out? Hang on to your earthly goods.
By this point in Ecclesiastes, Solomon has already shown us that even hoarded up goods are not truly secure. Listen to Ecclesiastes 5:13-14,
There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun; riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. 14 When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, there was nothing to support him.
Hanging onto, refusing to use, give away, or invest your goods is not truly safe because you can still lose everything you’ve stored up in a moment. At that time, say you accumulated a whole bunch of food, pests could get in it and ruin it. There could be a natural disaster like a fire burning it all up. War might consume it and take it away. Or this particular item, a valuable item, you might misplace it.
Whether back then or today, think of the benefit that could come if you use your stuff, even sending it out over the water. You can make a great profit and secure other goods for yourself. Like Solomon did when he traded away the wheat, barley, oil, and wine in exchange for timber and a skilled worker. Hiram, king of Tyre, that’s 2 Chronicles 2.
By sending out your precious goods over the water, you could also supply food to those who desperately need it and secure grateful and loyal friends who can help you also when you come into a time of need. And most importantly, you could even secure praise and glory to God, as well as eternal treasure, even everlasting friends, when you give for the Gospel’s sake.
You even use up what belongs to yourself and your resources, like your health and time to meet the needs of faraway brethren. This is what Paul and early Gentile believers did when they took a collection of money for certain hurting saints in Jerusalem.
Solomon is telling us here not to be afraid to let go of our precious things like our treasures, our life, and our health. You can, and you should take bold risks with the treasures of this world. Chances are that by doing so, you will accomplish great good for yourself, others, and Christ.
You will find it after many days, Solomon says. It may take a while. Overseas trade, after all, was not quick back then, and even today, it still takes a little bit of time. You may not see the fruit of your investment, charity, or your love for a long time. But eventually, Solomon says, you will. The ships will come back, and you’re given-away bread will have netted you that much more.
It’s interesting, perhaps you notice, that Solomon is speaking quite assertively here. Not that you might find it after many days, or you could find it, but that you will find it.
Solomon is not ignorant of life’s sudden calamities. He’s actually already told us about that in Ecclesiastes. There’s no true guarantee that your investments will succeed and come back. You can’t be naïve, and you can’t be reckless, but I think Solomon speaks so assuredly here because he wants us to see that the risks of life that cause us so much worry and fear are not as great as we think.
Ships do sink, but most of the time, they don’t. They come back. Sometimes you lose your investment. Sometimes your charity is wasted. But most of the time, that is not what happens. Typically, you send your bread away, and it comes back. So don’t be afraid. Don’t be foolish, but don’t be scared. Don’t be too scared to use, send out, and invest in precious goods.
Verse two continues this idea while stressing wisdom’s part in risk-taking. Look at verse two,
Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth.
This is your classic verse for the wisdom of diversifying your portfolio. It’s like the English proverb, do not put all of your eggs in one basket. That’s common-sense wisdom, and most of us readily see that. Yet you notice that there are risks in that wise counsel. Divide your portions, Solomon says, or we could translate it to give your share of treasure.
What are you saying? My portion is precious. As long as it’s in front of me, I can check it, watch it, and keep it. You want me to give it away? You want me to let go of it? You want me to let it out of my sight? Solomon says yes. And not just to one or two places, how about seven or eight?
Those numbers aren’t to be interpreted too literally. As if you did six places, somehow, you’ve disobeyed Solomon’s counsel. This is just the Hebrew way of representing a lot more than you would expect. Hebrews sometimes would have an expression where they give you a number, and then they give you that number plus one. It’s a way of expressing super completeness and overabundance. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him, for example, that’s from Proverbs.
Same idea here. Divide your treasures seven ways. That’s complete, that’s a lot, but you know what’s even better? Eight. Eight is even better.
Wait a second? Why should you give away your goods in so many ways? Why should you divide it up so much? Well, end of verse two, because you do not know what misfortune, literally evil, may occur on the earth. You can’t perfectly foretell the future. You can’t forestall all calamity, even if you know the future.
So, it’s actually riskier for you to hoard your good things or to put all of your hope in just one avenue for them than for you to send out your portion in multiple directions. If you send it out multiple ways, if one or a few fails, the others may still succeed. You should expect that there will be unexpected happenings in life. Reversals, betrayals, uncertainties. Therefore, distribute your treasures accordingly.
There are many relevant applications of this wisdom principle for our lives when it comes to just practical issues, but certainly when it comes to living as Christians. Don’t just apply to one school or one job. Apply to many and give yourself options. If you’re investing in the stock market; don’t just invest in one stock, invest in multiple stocks or in an index fund.
Get teaching counsel from multiple sources, don’t just rely on one. In the church, train up many people to serve and work, don’t just have one indispensable man. Don’t just rely on the pastor or one particular person. And in your life, spread the Gospel seed wide and give it to everyone. Don’t hoard it or just focus on one person that you really want to see saved because you never know when the seed is going to fall on good soil, and you’re going to have a heart that repents and believes.
Everyone must take risks in life; the question is whether you will risk well. The one who hoards and refuses to let his treasures leave his sight takes the worst risks because not only can his treasures still be lost in a moment, but that person risks wasting his life. I only get one short. Do you really want to waste it by not taking risks?
Your first resolution today ought to be to resolve not to hoard your treasures but invest them boldly and generously. Solomon points us to a second resolution for risking well for Christ in verses three to five. Resolution two is that I will not analyze endlessly but use wisdom humbly and sufficiently. Look now at verse three,
If the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies.
Here’s another saying from Solomon that is puzzling at first glance, not because it’s so mysterious and enigmatic but because it’s so plain and obvious. Of course, full clouds eventually rain, and of course, a fallen tree remains where it falls. Why are you telling me this, Solomon? I’d say that the obviousness is actually the point.
In verses three to five, Solomon is drawing our attention to what we can know and what we cannot know in life. There is no point, Solomon is telling us, in constantly studying and dwelling on ultimately unknowable matters because you need to act.
Consider the clouds here in verse three. Can any of us know for certain where, when, and how it will rain? We had some rain recently. We have all this advanced meteorological technology today that helps predict the weather, like the temperature, precipitation, etcetera. But how often is the weather report wrong?
The weatherman gets it wrong, and I am sure we’re going to see this more this winter. They are going to be telling us it’s going to snow, and it’s not going to snow. They’re going to be like, it’s a blizzard, and it’s like one inch. Or they’re like, it’s just a dusting, and then it turns into a whole foot.
This happens all of the time with predicting rain, snow, or the weather. Our personal judgment is not that much better. It’s not like we can say oh, those weathermen, what do they know? Well, what do you know? You look out, and you say oh, it’s not going to rain today, and then it rains. Or you’re like, I think the rain is done, and then you go out, and all of the rain comes down on you. We’re just as bad.
Our knowledge about weather, rain, and clouds is real, but it’s fundamentally limited, even with all of our technology and science today. We know that full clouds mean rain, but when, where, and how we can’t say for sure. Rain is ultimately beyond our control and understanding.
It’s the same with falling trees. We all know that trees can fall down. We even chop down certain trees and direct them to fall in a certain place and direction, but sometimes trees fall down without our help or even our expectation that they will fall. You thought your tree was all great, doing find, then a strong wind comes by, and the tree just gets uprooted. You say, oh, it’s shriveled underneath, and the tree has been sick without even realizing it. Or maybe it is a healthy tree, but it’s just a certain powerful storm, and you thought that nothing would ever knock that tree over, and then something more powerful than you expected came by, and there’s that tree fallen over.
We can do certain things to analyze the health of trees, the power of storms, to predict when and where a tree might fall over, but there are so many unknown factors when it comes to trees. We cannot say for sure when, where, or how a tree might fall. Maybe this tree doesn’t fall, but then that one does. The one that you didn’t expect.
There’s a lot that we don’t know, but we can sufficiently know the basics and the most important things. A tree sometimes falls, and wherever it falls, that’s where you will find it. It ain’t going anywhere anytime soon once it falls.
What is Solomons point? Don’t get caught up in too much study and preparation, thinking that you can predict perfectly when it’s going to rain or which tree is going to fall and where. If you just study enough, get enough wisdom, get enough knowledge, you’ll never get enough, and you’ll never be able to predict perfectly.
Take basic precautions against rain, against falling trees, then make sure you actually act. Don’t just sit around and speculate. Gather sufficient knowledge and then act.
Solomon brings out this exhortation even more forcefully in the next verse. Look at verse four.
He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.
Here we have represented exactly what Solomon does not want to see happen to any of us. That is paralysis by analysis. In the first line here, Solomon pictures a man who keeps checking the wind and signs related to the wind before he goes out to sow seed.
Why would he do that? He’s afraid that if he goes out to scatter seed on his farm when it’s particularly windy that the seed is going to get blown away from where he wants it to land. It’s going to go in the wrong spots. He might have to sow the field all over again.
In the second line, Solomon pictures a man constantly looking at the clouds, checking if it will rain. Harvesting and gathering crops will become much more difficult in the rain. It’s doable, but it’s a lot less comfortable, and it will take longer. He’d like to make sure that before he starts, he’s not going to have to endure the extra difficulty of harvesting in the rain, so he’s checking the clouds.
We might think that such an analysis is smart. This is prudent. But notice Solomon’s observations about these two hypothetical persons. Neither of them is actually going to act. The first is not actually going to sow the seed, and the second is not actually going to reap his crops. Their constant checking and analyzing approach is actually foolish and a huge waste. They’re only making life harder for themselves and enduring an unnecessary risk. Risk of starvation and destitution.
Why won’t they act? Because they’re afraid, like Prufrock, of wasted effort, disappointment, and difficulty. They’re looking for the perfect, sure success that is risk-free before they act. Solomon says you know what? That situation you are looking for is never going to come.
Your ideal and perfect risk-free situation only exists in your imagination. You will never have complete knowledge, security, or surety for action.
So, what should you do? Stop waiting around for the ideal situation and act according to the needs and opportunities that you have in front of you. You’re going to have to endure some risks in doing this.
You check the clouds and wind, and you think it’s good, but you don’t know for sure. You go out there, and you might end up sowing in a way where the wind picks up, blowing everything all over the place, and you might have to do it again. Or you might end up going out there thinking it’s not going to rain when you go to harvest, and the rain does unexpectedly come, and you have to harvest in the rain.
But you know what? That’s okay. Enduring these risks are much better than enjoying the risk of never sowing or reaping at all. And, by the way, if you just try to sow, just try to reap, then chances are that you won’t encounter the difficulties that you were fearing, and even if you do, you’ll get through it, and you’ll gain the outcome that you actually needed to gain—food, or whatever it is that you need in a particular situation.
A sure way not to succeed, though, is to never try at all because you’re waiting for perfection. Here again is a teaching with so many valuable applications to life, especially the Christian life. You have got to stop waiting for the perfect job, church, or spouse because they don’t exist. Stop waiting for the perfect time to buy a home; the perfect time to serve the church; the perfect time to have kids; the perfect time to give the Gospel to that family member. Oh, it’s awkward, and I don’t want to do it yet. I am going to wait for a smoother time.
Just remember that your perfect, risk-free time is never going to arrive. This means that if you’re waiting, then you’re never going to act. While you keep looking for the perfect, you’re going to miss out on all of the good. In the end, make preparation, but then do what you need to do. Even if the circumstances are not completely ideal, you will receive the benefit, and the Lord will be honored, especially when you persevere through difficulty.
This counsel from Solomon is humbling, but that is part of the point. Look at verse five.
Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.
Now your Bible translation may differ slightly here. There is some question in the original Hebrew text as to whether Solomon is giving one or two comparisons here. The word for wind in Hebrew could also be translated to spirit—the same word. So, it’s possible to translate this verse as the ESV has it,
Just as you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child
So, is he talking about women and pregnancy? Or wind and pregnancy? Or just pregnancy? I think the New American Standard ’95 reading, the one we’re using, is more likely, but either way, the overall message is the same.
Solomon is reminding us here once again of our limitations in knowledge, which means that we have a need to rely on God. We can know certain facts about the wind, about pregnancy, and we can also see the beautiful or tragic outcomes of wind and pregnancy in the world. However, there are still fundamental mysteries to these realities, even for us modern Christians who don’t know everything there is to know about the wind or how babies are formed.
Solomon draws our attention to these areas of lack of knowledge to remind us once again of the differences between us and God. God knows all things and is actively working all things according to His good but mysterious will. If we try to become like God and obtain God-like understanding of situations before we act, then we’re doomed to fail because we are not God and cannot be Him. We are clay in the hands of the Potter, and we cannot understand all that He does.
Though, it is good for us to gain basic knowledge, wisdom, and counsel. Proverbs says a lot about that, you want to act wisely, then get counsel, do that before you act, but remember that you’re not going to have complete knowledge. There will always be some risks. There’s always going to be some need to rely on God amid danger and uncertainty, but that is God’s design. It’s the way God wants it to be.
Ecclesiastes 3:14 says that God does things in a way that is inscrutable to you so that you will fear Him, you will revere Him, and you will depend on Him.
What does Proverbs say? You are to trust the Lord in all things and not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path. That’s the beginning and basic wisdom.
We must not run away from this reality but embrace it. Sometimes we get into such a nervous state because we want to see how it’s all going to work out from the beginning.
I can’t see how this is going to turn out well. God says you’re not supposed to right now, but you’re supposed to trust Me. Take a risk by remaining faithful and obedient, even when you don’t see the outcome, and watch how I provide.
We need to leave the secret things to God and focus on what He’s given us to know and to do. Let us resolve then not to analyze endlessly but use the wisdom that God gives us, that basic but important wisdom, to act humbly and sufficiently. He will always give us enough, so we don’t have to be afraid.
Our third and final resolution for today comes from verse six. Resolution three, I will not despair over the future but work diligently and hopefully. I will not despair over the future, this is what you need to resolve this morning, but work diligently and hopefully. Look at verse six.
Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.
Notice here that Solomon again turns us to a farming metaphor. This, of course, would have been very familiar to the agricultural Hebrews. Though Solomon’s words do have a direct application to farming, they really apply to all kinds of endeavors that we might undertake in life, especially for Christ.
Solomon says to sow seed in the morning and in the evening. Do not be idle, he says, or more literally, do not cause your hand to rest. Work hard, try out multiple avenues of work, and have multiple possibilities of success. Why? Because of life’s uncertainty. This sounds a lot like verses one to two, which we’ve already looked at.
Diversify your options as you seek good. You don’t know whether it’s morning sowing that will be successful or the evening sowing, maybe even both. You never know which investment is going to turn out big; which business is going to hire you; which ministry is going to have a great impact; which counselee is going to have a breakthrough; which verse finally gets that person to believe; which person you share the Gospel with is going to repent.
What should you do? Give a shot to everything you can. Don’t stop working, and don’t stop trying because you never know what good God might accomplish through your perseverant work and words.
Notice how optimistically Solomon gives us this third exhortation. Solomon does not say to work hard and try everything because you don’t know what might fail. Rather he says you don’t know which will succeed or whether both of them will be good. Why the rosy outlook? Again, I don’t think it’s because Solomon has suddenly become ignorant about the possibility of total and unexpected ruin.
This is an aspect of life. He lived in a world that is frequently devasted by droughts and famines. We’ve mitigated many of those things with modern technology, but it’s not a problem that has ceased to be. Especially in ancient times, if you’re going through a drought or a famine, if you sowed in the morning or evening, neither of them is likely to turn out well. Solomon is not ignorant of that fact.
He’s nonetheless optimistic here. Why? I think his optimism comes from two sources. First, simply the way that God made the world. Solomon describes that way in the book of Proverbs. God has so designed the universe, even in the fall, that those who work hard and with wisdom tend to see good results. Proverbs 10:4 says,
Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
Proverbs 21:5 says,
The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.
Of course, life doesn’t always work out this way. It is mysterious and vaporous, after all. Sometimes you work hard, and you don’t see success, but that’s not generally the case. If you’re a hard worker, trying multiple avenues of success, you can work in the hope that your efforts will bring about good. That is generally how God designed this world to work. That’s a source of optimism, but that’s not the only reason.
The second reason for optimism is the goodness of God. Consider what basic promise does God give His people over and over again in the Bible? If you seek Me, if you believe in Me, if you obey Me, I will take care of you, and I will provide for you.
You will still see trials, and you will see situations where you will have to trust Me. I am going to grow you, I am going to test your faith, I am going to display My glory through you, but you don’t need to be afraid. You don’t need to worry. You don’t need to become obsessed with safety. Work hard, act in wisdom, but in it all, God says, trust in Me. Trust in Me to bring you to good because I will do it in my own way and time, but I will do it, God says.
This is one of the most precious truths of the Bible, and it’s one that we’re going to have to cling to again and again in our lives. You’re going to encounter situations where it doesn’t feel like there’s going to be any good that can come out of it. Yet God, because He is a faithful God and true in His character both in the Scriptures and in our lives, He has made it quite clear to us that He will bring His people, even you, to good. We don’t know how or when.
We know we will certainly be there in His kingdom when we’re there with Him, but even in this life, we can take courage as we work hard and suffer mysterious reversals because God has promised that He will show us good again.
I’ll give you just one example of how this is mentioned in the Bible. Psalm 4:6-8. The Psalmist says,
6 Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O Yahweh! 7 You have put gladness in my heart, more than when their grain and new wine abound. 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Yahweh, make me dwell in safety.
You know, in an earthly sense, life is never without risks. Safety and good are not guaranteed. But in a fuller sense, in a biblically informed sense for God’s people, life is always safe, and good is always guaranteed. In a way, to take a risk for the Lord in your life, there are no risks at all because we know that He loves us and will care for us.
Even if your faithful and wise obedience to Christ results in your death, that is actually no great loss. Paul says in Philippians 1:21-22,
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.
If I die, then I go with the Lord, but if I live, then I get to do more for Him. I am happy either way. Paul’s attitude is really to be the attitude of each of us. Mark this, my brothers and sisters, the life of risking well for Christ is really just the life of faith, and it’s basic to being a Christian. When you first repented and believed in the Lord, when you first came to salvation, do you know what you told Him? Jesus, I believe in You, I am going to trust You, and I am going to take risks for You in my life because I believe that You will provide for me.
Isn’t this what we see of the different godly persons in the Bible, especially those mentioned in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11? Did they not take great risks in their obedient strivings for the Lord? They did, but they did it out of faith. Some of them, as a result, were mistreated; some of them came close to death; and some of them died—who were killed.
But you know what? They also got to see the Lord work mightily in their lives. They got to put His glory on display before the whole universe, and they got to experience the joy and reward of the Lord in their lives. They didn’t just have to wait for it, they got to experience it now, and the same ought to be true of us.
Brethren, we are risk-takers for the Lord. That’s what we’ve signed up to be. We’re not risking recklessly, and we’re not presuming on the Lord. We ought to risk wisely and well. When we do, we give the Lord great opportunity to act in a mighty way in our lives.
Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, once said that unless there’s an element of risk in our exploits for God, then there is no need for faith. William Carey, the great missionary to India, similarly exhorts us to expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. Jim Elliot, the great missionary martyr to Ecuador, adds that he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain now which he cannot lose.
What might the Lord show us and do through us this year if we will take risks for His sake? Based on this passage, then, will you sincerely resolve today to risk well for Christ? Will you refuse to hoard your talents and treasures but instead distribute and invest them boldly and generously?
Will you refuse to analyze endlessly but instead act with the sufficient knowledge and wisdom that God provides for you while you depend on Him?
Will you refuse to despair over the future but instead work diligently and hopefully knowing that God cares for you, He will provide for you, and He will reward you—whether you see an immediate earthly outcome or not?
I mentioned earlier in the message that the greatest risk you can take in life is to try and play it safe. That’s not just because you will miss out on much good in this life.
We read from the Parable of the Talents earlier in the service, Matthew 25:14:30. Remember in that Parable that there were three slaves who were all charged by their master to make the most of resources entrusted by him to them while he goes away. Two of the slaves did so wisely, even amid risks. They doubled the talents of money given to them by engaging in trade and business.
Trades and business are not guaranteed ventures. There’s always a chance that things will lose money or businesses will fail. They still sought to engage in it for their Lord’s sake, trusting that there will be more success than there would be failure. You know what, that’s what they found. When their lord assessed their work, he greatly commended them and rewarded them.
But the third slave with one talent never used it. He played it safe. He fearfully buried it in the ground. I think many of us in our fleshly moments have felt or acted like this slave. We only become concerned about comfort and survival, not obedience or ministry. And we never ask for what use we are surviving if we’re not actually doing anything for the Lord.
If this is the pattern of our lives, if this is the pattern of your life, then you must repent. You must change because what was the Lord’s assessment of the third slave? He condemned him as a wicked and lazy slave. He took away his talent, gave it to another, and he had that worthless slave, he calls him a worthless slave, thrown out into the outer darkness—to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
That is a sobering reality. A wasted, useless, risk-free life actually risks the everlasting wrath of God. If you say that’s too hard, Lord, I don’t want to do it. I am just going to stay comfortable. I am not going to make any sacrifices or take risks for you. Then you know what God will say to you? You don’t belong to Me, I never knew you, and depart.
Yet as the writer of Hebrews says: I am convinced of better things concerning you brethren, and things that accompany salvation, for we are not those who shrink back to destruction but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. For God has not given us the spirit of timidity but of power and love and discipline.
Brethren, let us strive for the Lord this year. Let us pray. Let us give. Let us serve. Let us speak like those who truly believe that this life is short and that we are to make the most of it while we can. We won’t always see a great or immediate earthly outcome whenever we risk for the Lord and when we risk well for Him.
We won’t always act or speak perfectly, but that’s okay because we will learn and get better, and we can trust that the Lord will see, whether there’s a great earthly outcome or not, and He will be pleased, and He will reward us.
Fundamentally, let us resolve to risk well for Christ for however many days He gives us—for however many days He gives you. Amen? Next week we will say more about how we can do this, specifically when it comes to evangelism.
Let’s close in prayer. Lord, it is hard for us really to realize and believe that our lives are short. It’s so obvious. People we love, they have already departed this world. We see ourselves getting older. We read the news about somebody who suddenly died or was killed. Somehow, God, we lose that sense of urgency and we’re so tempted, Lord, to just sit back, play it safe, don’t do anything meaningful, don’t take any risks for You.
But, Lord, as you have instructed us from Your word today, we cannot afford to fall into such a stupor. We have to come back to reality and to wisdom, which is that life is short, death is certain, and Your judgment is coming. We want to be found faithful. We cannot do this, Lord, apart from your help and strength.
You know what, Lord, You’ve already promised it to us that You’ve given us the wisdom of Your word, You’ve given Your Spirit to those of us who have repented and believed in Jesus Christ so that we can do this. We can have faith. We can persevere. We can push through the difficulty. We can say no to ungodliness and yes to righteousness. We can tell other people the good news of salvation. Lord, You will use even us to bring others to salvation. You will put Your glory on display through the people of this church.
But God, will we actually let You do that by taking risks for Your sake? Help us, Lord. You know that we are weak, but You are strong. God, I pray that we will put You to the test in the right way. That by obedience, we will say, Lord, show Yourself faithful, and God, that You would indeed do that.
Lord, be pleased to use Calvary in a special way this year. We want to see many souls saved. We want to see the people of this church sanctified and growing in You. I pray that you would accomplish it. Lord, build up Your church, bring glory to Yourself through us, and let us experience the joy and reward of it. God, we want to be useful to You because that’s what You made us to be. We trust, God, that You will provide. In Jesus’ name, amen.