Hard Work and Providence
Ecclesiastes 11:1-8
Cascades Fellowship CRC, JX MI
June 5, 2005
I am going to tell you one of my favorite stories this morning because it illustrates perfectly how many of us think about the relationship between what we do and what God does. Many of you have probably heard me tell this story before, but that’s okay – it is one of those stories that remains profound every time you hear it.
It seems that there was this man in Texas – a very devout man. One year when the rains were heavy, the waters of the Lampasas River got well above flood stage. As the flood waters crept up the man’s sidewalk he began to pray, “O God, deliver me from the flood. Your Word tells me that when the waters rise, they will not reach the one who trusts in you. Preserve me, Lord from this deluge.”
About the time he said “amen” there was a knock at the door. He opened it to find a rather excited young man. “Dude, the water’s rising. I saw the lights on and thought I should check if you needed a ride. My monster truck is in the driveway.”
Calmly, the devout man said, “Thank you, no. The Lord will deliver me.” With a shrug of his shoulders the young man said, “Suit yourself,” and ran back to his truck. The devout man watched the truck ford through the water and head off toward higher ground. And the water kept coming.
Steadily the devout man was driven to the second floor. As he prayed and waited for God to deliver him, a deputy sheriff in a john boat came floating by, looking for people stranded by the water. He asked if the devout man needed a lift. “No thanks,” said the man “I will wait on the Lord.” As the boat sped off the devout man began to get excited. He could only imagine the spectacular way in which God was going to deliver him. And the water kept coming.
Finally, he was driven on top of his roof. As he was crying out to God to part the waters and let him walk safely to dry land, a National Guard helicopter swooped down with a ladder. “Climb up!” blared the loudspeaker. But the devout man just shook his head and pointed to the sky. With all his might he shouted, “I will wait for the Lord to deliver me!” And the water kept coming.
As the waters reached his ankles, he began to cry out fervently. Suddenly a huge wave swept him away. When he opened his eyes, he stood before the judgment seat of God. Angrily, he stamped his feet, “God, why didn’t you deliver me?”
Calmly, God replied, “My child, I tried three times with a truck, a boat and a helicopter. But you wanted to pretend you were Moses and kept waiting for the water to part!”
It is funny how we think God should work. For some reason we seem to think that since God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present Creator of the universe – and anything else in existence – that he should do everything on a grand scale. Fireworks and wonders ought to accompany everything he does. It is like we expect trumpets to announce God’s gracious intervention every single time. We don’t seem to make room for the power of God and the ability of man to cooperate in the accomplishment of God’s will and eternal plan.
Over the past few weeks we have been slogging through Ecclesiastes. I say slogging because it has not been easy reading. Solomon has had some hard things to say about life in general. If we were to title this journal of life below the sun it would probably be “The Trouble with Living.” That seems to be the theme – at least for the first eight or nine chapters.
Solomon has told us basically that life under the sun is unfair. Whether you obey all the rules, live a good life, and treat the jerks of the world kindly or happen to be one the jerks, we all end up in the same place – the grave. You can work dawn to dusk every day, scrimp and save all your life, build wealth, gain influence and power – become a big fish in a little pond – and one day as you are smiling over what all your hard work has won for you … you die. Somebody else gets to enjoy the fruit of your labor.
Solomon observed that the good die young while the wicked seem to go on and on. The fool is given authority while the wise are made servants. All the things we are taught to pursue – taught will bring us happiness – actually only bring us more anxiety. With greater wealth comes more worries. With greater power comes more enemies. With greater sensual pleasure comes greater risk of disease. And no matter what appetite we try to satisfy we only end up whetting it for more. Nothing satisfies. We are left wondering if any good can come from life.
After nine chapters of this, if you are anything like me, you are just about ready to throw in the towel, close the book and go watch Looney Tunes, something that makes you smile. I remember the first time I read The Grapes of Wrath. Talk about a depressing story – I mean it makes sense because it was about the depression era in Oklahoma. But all through the story, you kept waiting for something good, something positive to happen. You finally have to make a conscious decision to just keep reading so that you can finish the book and say you have read one of the classics.
Ecclesiastes is a little like that. You finally just have to press on and decide to read it so that you can say you have read all of the Bible – at least for those first nine chapters or so. But then, like a beam of sunshine peaking through the storm clouds, Solomon begins to change his tune a little. He begins offering words of wisdom on how to live well. Before I get to the centerpiece of Solomon’s wisdom for living well, let me comment on one verse.
If we were to pick one proverb from the Scriptures that sums up how we really think the world works, it would be v. 10:19. A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything. If you were spout this proverb on any street corner you’d probably get a hardy “Amen!” This proverb makes sense to us today – unfortunately, our sense is all wrong.
Remember, Solomon has already covered the money angle earlier. He’s hoarded wealth – he’s got more buying power than Bill Gates could ever dream. If money is the answer for everything, Solomon doesn’t write Ecclesiastes because he’s the happiest man on earth. Just skim through the book and you can see that he is far from it. No, Solomon offers this little tidbit of wisdom with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.
If you follow Solomon’s thinking here, he is describing the lifestyle of the rich and famous or infamous, depending on your perspective. Essentially he is saying, “There are those who think they have life by the tail. They think they are in control – that they determine their own fate; forge their own future. And unfortunately, they are often the ones who lead us. Where does such arrogance come from? They think money can fix everything. A little cash can turn the eyes of justice. A few coins can silence the cry of the victim. The best thing you can do is obey the king and keep quiet about the excesses of royal family or the shortfalls of the king. Why? Because a king can afford to have ears everywhere and your words might get back to him.”
Now, there’s advice to drive you crazy. What? And let them get away with it just because they have money? Why, that’s unfair! That’s outrageous! But remember, says Solomon, they only think they are in control. Yeah, well, I would too if I could get away with murder and not fear justice because I had money. Relax, says Solomon, they are not in control.
Instead of grousing about and risking them getting wind of it, try this:
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.
2 Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
3 If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie.
4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
6 Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
Now, maybe you’re setting there thinking “Okay. Well at least I know not to go to Solomon for advice anymore.” I mean, let’s face it, casting bread on water does not sound like a very reasonable course of action – unless you are feeding the ducks or something. And quite frankly, it isn’t. What is literally being said here is “Go sow your grain in on the face of the water!”
I am not a farmer by any stretch of the imagination. I have neither the skill nor the patience. Rach snickers at me because several times a day I go out to our little garden to see how things are progressing. This makes sense now that we have seedlings popping out of the dirt, but I was doing it a day or two after planting. But even I know if you throw corn seed in a pond all you get is wet corn seed.
But Solomon has a point to make here. Remember you are not in control. That is the overall message of this passage. You are not in control.
The temptation here is to simply say, “Well, since I am not in control, it doesn’t matter what I do. What will be, will be. If God is in control, let him deliver me, forget the truck, the john boat and the helicopter – those are man-made things. Let the God who is in control do his thing.”
But Solomon sees a problem with that immediately. Remember, he has been watching what happens under the sun, keeping an eye on how things work. And he has noticed something very intriguing. God is in control – only he knows the beginning from the end; only he knows the future. We are clueless here and our cluelessness paralyzes us. As we try to guess whether it will rain or whether the winds will blow, our hands are idle and our hearts not engaged in our work. We are too busy looking over our shoulder to get anything done. Rather than doing nothing but watching anxiously, trying to decide what to do Solomon says, “Act!” Like the old saying goes, “You gonna fish or cut bait?”
Let me paraphrase Solomon a little here. “Do something, anything – no wait, try everything. Throw your seed even in the water! Because you do not know where God is going to cause it to grow. Don’t just stand there wringing your hands, get busy! Diversify! Be generous in your giving to others because you never know when you are going to need friends.”
“You see, the reality is this,” says Solomon, “you can no more know what God is up to than you can catch the wind. Only God really knows the baby in the womb. But it is much more likely that our efforts will cooperate with God’s will and eternal plan if we are faithful and diligent in our work. We should always work like the results are up to us but always know that God is in control.”
I believe these are timely words for us today. We live in an environment obsessed with self-actualization. We like to think we are in control, that we alone determine the outcome by the strength of our own will and efforts. It is true in life in general – on the job, in school, in dating, in marriage, at play, etc. We are the masters of our own fate, the captains of our own soul.
And we believe this no less when it comes to the life of our church. If we just outwork the guy across the street then we can get the visitors and we will grow. We can start building new additions, we can set up cash reserves to keep us on the map for generations to come. That all sounds nice, but it neglects one little detail – God is in control.
People of God, there is no doubt that we have to put the sweat equity in. God did not call us to be idle listeners of his Word, but doers. We are supposed to be busy, to diversify our efforts, to be generous, to lay it all on the line – to cast our bread upon the waters. We are to go all out – everyone of us – taking the Gospel with us and sharing it wherever we are. We are to pour our hearts into this fellowship, strengthening the bonds of love, sowing seeds of unity that will bind us so closely together that vulnerability will become a characteristic and not a struggle. We are to work at loving each other the way Jesus loved us – even going so far as to take responsibility for one another – become our brother’s keeper. We are to sacrifice our very lives for the sake of the person sitting next to you, in front of you, behind you and across the aisle. We are to work, to live as if it all depends on us …. But…
We are to always remember, to give God praise for being in control. In the end, he determines the times and we do well to remember that. He somehow takes our efforts – our self-absorbed, willful efforts – and uses them in his eternal plan. How? I don’t know – I just know that it is true. The life that honors God is the one that works hard, looking to God’s gracious hand of providence to cause his seed to grow – even if it is thrown upon the waters.
