"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days."
Ecclesiastes 11:1
What does it mean to cast thy bread upon the waters? Have you ever thought about it? Let me know your thoughts. How do you practice this in your every day life?
3 comments:
I always thought that this was sarcasm, based on my interpretation of the following verse. For, judging by man's limited knowledge and power, we should try to save 6/7ths of our income against misfortune. The problem, which is the Preacher's point, is that even this would not be sufficient. It would simply make us hungry and miserable on the good days, while leaving us helpless when true misfortune comes. For misfortune, as well as blessing, comes from God, and no one can prevent one or guarantee the other by his prudence.
Casting your bread upon the waters is the other extreme. No matter what this verse says, you certainly will not find it after many days, and if you did, you could not eat it. Acting this way is foolishness in the world's eyes, although it has no more hope of ultimate success than the other. And as I am writing this, I am beginning to see how I could apply this to my life. Because the answer to this dilemma, given in 12:13, certainly does seem like casting your bread upon the waters, in the world's eyes.
So in answer to your question, how I practice this, I don't know. It all comes down to trust and obedience. Which honestly I'm not very good at. I don't want to trust God to provide – I want to guarantee myself a secure life, through money and friends and security. I don't want to obey Him either. Too often I'd rather give in to temptation. I guess I can say one step is not to give in to worry. I don't know what I'm doing with my life, or where I'll be a month from now, but I'm not really worried about it. If I commit to serving God each day at a time, he'll take care of the rest. This is a daily battle, but thankfully, He's fighting for us.
Taking this in a more figurative sort of a way, I see it as meaning that giving away even when it seems foolish to do so is to claim the promise that one day, in our time of need, we'll find the blessings we've given freely to others come back to ourselves in unexpected ways.
At least that is how I've read it, and believed it, and practiced it. And it has been true. :)
There's been a lot of times lately when I feel that God has blessed us so much more, and I think of this verse and thank Him for the chances I've had to share, and pray that one day I can return this "bread" to the water again.
Brief and definitely not my most elaborate explanation, but maybe you can get the point? :)
Thanks so much for your comments! I actually wrote a whole long reply on Friday and then when I posted it an error appeared and it was gone and I didn't have time to rewrite it. :P
I love putting a verse out and getting different perspectives on it and thinking through what it means.
No matter how much we save and stockpile to protect ourselves against misfortune, we cannot guarantee safety. Money looses value, food goes bad, cloth disintegrates. I see the casting our bread upon the water as giving away to others in need, not selfishly hoarding for ourselves, but as Chantel said, sharing even when it seems foolish to do so. And one day when we are in need then our bread returns to us through the love of others who we've helped. Through the grace of God which feeds us in time of need. It comes down to Matt. chapter 6, where the Lord challenges us to take no thought for the morrow but to trust the Lord. That takes a lot of strength, and it *doesn't* mean that we shouldn't prepare and store food and provide for ourselves, as Paul says that a man that fails to provide for his family is worse than an infidel. But not to worry about it, because God knows that we have need and He will provide for us if we trust Him. And I think that the Lord is disappointed in us that many times we don't trust Him to care for us, when He could so easily work miracles of love on our behalf.
I know what you mean Tim, it's natural for us not to trust, we want to see tangibility now. We want guaranteed success in life, while the Lord never guarantees a easy passage, but He does guarantee a safe landing!! And the Lord has never, ever failed.
Post a Comment