ECCLESIASTES 11


1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

3 If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.

4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.




6 In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

Chapter 11 tells us to labour steadily, at all times and under all circumstances, not hunting for excuses or waiting for more favorable opportunities. Our duty is to work, continuously and consistently, leaving the results to God and not watching the skies for rain or wind to justify postponement or cancellation.

"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand."

The morning is youth, who tend to say,

"Let us play. Our turn to work will come."

The evening is old age, which tend to say,

"We have done our part. Now it is someone else's turn."

Both reactions are disobedience and folly. God calls us from early morning, when strength and vigor abound, to latest evening, the years of long experience and study, until our little day ends at last in God-given rest. There in so retirement on the way to eternal life.

Bro Growcott - Fear God and keep his commandments



7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:

Light a perfect balance

It is needful to look at the various aspects of wisdom as they come before us one after the other in our daily readings of the Scriptures. We do well to look earnestly into each as it comes, and not trust to the special tastes that would incline us to attend only to particular things. We are almost all of us more or less lop-sided. That is, our mental organisation leans a little too much one way or other, from which we get a bias that would incline us too much to one particular line of truth.

Some like hard facts; some beautiful sentiments. Some delight in political prophecy while having no taste for personal godliness. Others are all for zeal and devotion, while they have a shrinking, or at least a lack of taste for everything requiring exact thought or reckoning. Some again have a taste for sombre themes; others, for those that are full of brightness and joy.

These preferences come from partial development. For every part of truth there is a time and a place; and every part blended is needful to a perfect result. In this respect, it is like light. Light is a mixture of seven differently coloured elements. When any of them is absent, we have a defective light. Truth is compared to light, and it is like it in this respect - that it is composed of a variety of ingredients, the leaving out of any of which will interfere with the result.

Bro Roberts



LIGHT is sweet to the eyes


This is true in all senses. There are various kinds of light, as there are various kinds of darkness. When we are young, the most oppressive form of darkness is the natural darkness of the night when the sun has set.

When we are old, it is another form of darkness that distresses us the most - the darkness of evil circumstances - the darkness caused by God's averted face and man's unloving and unholy ways - the darkness that broods everywhere in the prevalence of pain and death.

We can mitigate the natural darkness of night by artificial light, and have comfortable times round the pleasant fire. The other darkness that covers all the earth finds its only alleviation in the Bible.

It has been well said that the Bible is lit up from the beginning to end. We find it to be really so when we become acquainted with it. Wherever we dip into it, we find ourselves in the presence of light and comfort. Our methodical reading keeps us in continual contact with it.

The light does not shine for the haphazard or the casual reader. The Bible is so constituted that it requires constant faithful familiarity to make visible and available the light that is in it. To this kind of familiarity, light yields itself everywhere - even in parts where to the uninitiated there seems none.

Seasons 2.22


8 But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

10 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.