"Folly is Hevel, pt.3 (Ecclesiastes 9:13-11:6)" | 11/6/22
Ecclesiastes 9:13-11:6 | 11/6/22 | Will DuVal
Have you heard the joke about the two wise men and the fool?
Three men were stranded on a deserted island - two of them wise, and one a fool. They found a lamp on the beach, rubbed it, and a genie popped out, and granted them each one wish.
The first wise man said, “I wish I was back home with my family.” POOF! He was home.
The second wise man said, “I wish I was home with MY family.” POOF! He was gone.
The fool said, “Awww man! I wish my friends were here!”
A little leaven leavens the whole lump, and a little FOLLY can ruin EVERYTHING. That is Solomon’s sermon this morning in a nutshell.
We’ve been unpacking his homily, otherwise known as the book of Ecclesiastes, week by week, as Solomon systematically exposes the eternal emptiness of EVERY “vain pursuit” here “under the sun”, how NONE of it can ultimately SATISFY us. And last week, in the first half of ch9, he gave us the most definitive answer WHY: because nothing in this life will LAST us; NONE of it can survive DEATH, our last and greatest Enemy. And so Solomon concluded: in light of death’s inevitability, the best thing for us to do, is simply to live the best lives we can these “few short days” God gives us here on the earth. And how do we LIVE our “best lives now”? Solomon’s answer: By WISDOM!
He has already commended wisdom to us; in ch2: “there is more gain in wisdom than in folly” (v13); in ch7: “Wisdom is good… an advantage to those who see the sun… wisdom preserves the life of him who has it… Wisdom gives strength to the wise” (vv11-12,19); and in ch8: “Who is like the wise? …A man's wisdom makes his face shine”.
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And yet, Solomon has also, even MORE frequently throughout Ecclesiastes, warned us of wisdom’s LIMITATIONS; in ch1: “in much wisdom is much vexation” (v18); in ch2: “the wise dies just like the fool!” (v16); in ch6: “what advantage has the wise man over the fool?” (v8); in ch7: “I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me.” (v23); in ch8 “a wise man… cannot find out [God’s ways].” (v17) and last week in ch9: “there is no… wisdom in Sheol”, in DEATH; wisdom, like everything else here under the sun, is only temporary.
And this morning, Solomon will reiterate that wisdom is good, but insufficient. Moreover, he’s gonna observe that FOLLY is overpowering. Wisdom may take you one step forward, but folly sets you two steps back. Wisdom may be able to get you off the island, but folly can land you right BACK there again.
Commentator Philip Ryken explains: “A ‘fool’ in the Biblical sense is not necessarily someone with below-average intelligence… Rather, the term refers to someone who lacks the proper fear of God and therefore is prone to go the wrong direction in life. It is the fool who ‘says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1)... The fool is characterized [then] by impulsive disobedience, self-centered arrogance, and rash disregard for… God.” (Ecclesiastes, 232). I heard one pastor this week explain folly not as a measure of one’s IQ (your intelligence quotient), but rather, your GQ (your godliness quotient).
So here’s a quick outline for you: Solomon’s going to list 6 wonderful qualities of WISDOM for us here, but with EACH, he immediately counters it with TWO destructive traits of FOLLY (so 6 steps forward; 12 steps backward). And with EACH of his observations, we’ll consider together some present-day, practical life applications for us, but I ALSO want to show you in every case how JESUS was the perfect FULFILLMENT of wisdom. For most of the sermons in this series, I’ve tried to bring it back to Jesus in the end, but this morning, I’m not going to make you wait until the end; I want to tie EVERY point here, as we work our way through, back to Jesus, who is the “wisdom of God”, incarnate for us (1 Cor 1:24).
We’ve got a LOT to get to - ch9, v13 all the way to ch11, v6 - but before we dive in, let’s go to the Lord together in prayer…
Observation #1: Wisdom is GREAT, but folly is PREFERRED and PONDEROUS. (9:13-10:1)
Solomon repeats the word “great” 3x in vv13 & 14 here: “this example of wisdom… seemed great to me… a great king came against a little city… he built great siegeworks against it.”
But in v15, that one little, poor WISE man in the city “by his wisdom delivered the city.” THAT’s how much “GREATER” wisdom is, than the king’s power - v16, “wisdom is better than might” - it’s is GREATER than his siegeworks - v18, “Wisdom is better than weapons of war”.
AND YET, in spite of wisdom’s greatness, Folly is PREFERRED. Solomon laments in v16: “the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.”
I read the story this past week about one man - Leo Major - who during WWII, single-handedly saved the city of Zwolle, Netherlands (50,000 people) from falling to the Nazis. The night before the invasion, Major snuck behind enemy lines, convinced a German officer that they were surrounded by Ally forces, and then spent all night setting off grenades all over town, til the Nazis got so scared they retreated. (https://globalnews.ca/news/4178944/leo-major-soldier-zwolle-liberated/)
Now imagine Leo Major running for MAYOR of Zwolle, and the town voting him down, REJECTING him, v15: forgetting all ABOUT him.
Friends: that’s exactly what you and I do to JESUS every single day. Jesus single-handedly saved our lives, eternally, and yet every day, we ignore him, we forget, even DESPISE his words. Jesus said, “Love your enemies,” but we retaliate instead; Jesus said, “Store up treasures in heaven,” but we focus on our bank accounts here on earth instead; Jesus said, “Love me above ALL else”, but we choose family, friends, career, personal ambitions, money, comfort, pleasure, sex… all KINDS of idols above Him. We prefer folly.
And not only is it preferred, it’s also PONDEROUS. Folly is “extremely weighty”; in fact, it “OUTWEIGHS wisdom”, ch10, v1 says.
It doesn’t matter how expensive and aromatic your perfume is, Solomon says, just a few dead flies, over time, will make it STINK.
The ethylene from just one bad apple really CAN ruin the whole barrel.
The fool’s wish really has the power to UNDO the wishes of the two wise men.
As Solomon puts it, in ch9, v18: “one sinner destroys much good.”
I know I feel the weight of this, as a pastor. How many churches’ entire ministries have been devastated by the moral failure of just one man, the pastor? It’s getting hard to count, isn’t it. And actually, folly is even weightier than THAT; Solomon could have said not “one sinner”, but “just one SIN destroys much good”. That pastor could have lived “above reproach” for 40 years of ministry, but all it takes is one MOMENT of indiscretion - giving in to sexual temptation ONCE, lashing out at a fellow elder ONCE, plagiarizing from the pulpit ONCE - just one foolish decision can overshadow 40 YEARS of good decisions.
Friends: sin is that powerful. Romans 5 tells us that “sin came into the world through one man” (v12). Just one foolish decision in the Garden of Eden ruined EVERYTHING. But here’s the good news of Romans 5: “if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man [Adam], much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” (v17)
Adam’s sin ruined everything; but Jesus’ death and resurrection RESTORED everything. That’s how great JESUS is!
In your life here under the sun, just one foolish decision really can DEFINE and DESTROY you. But praise God, in eternity, just one WISE and RIGHTEOUS act - on Jesus’ part - will outweigh and undo a LIFETIME’S worth of foolish sinning on our part.
Wisdom is great; JESUS is greater!
Observation #2: Wisdom is A GUIDE, but folly is [too] LOUD and PROUD to listen. (10:2-3)
Wisdom can GUIDE us. V2 now, of ch10: “A wise man's heart inclines him to the right”. Now, as the only right-handed member of my family growing up (mom, dad and sister were all lefties), and possibly the only one in my family still TODAY (Polly and Ellery are left-handed; TBD on Elijah and baby Moses), but this is my chance to settle this issue once and for all, biblically: in Scripture, “‘The right hand is associated with strength which saves, supports and protects.’ The right hand was used to convey blessing (like Jacob in Gen 48:13-20)... it was associated with authority (like Jesus, at the Father’s right hand; Col 3:1)... [And] at the final judgment, the sheep will be on the right, but the goats will be on the left (Matt 25:31-33).” (Ryken, 233)
So - take THAT, lefties! Wisdom guides us to the RIGHT, to what IS right, to what is true and right-EOUS.
BUT: “a fool's heart [inclines him] to the left.”
A fool, in his PRIDE, REFUSES wisdom’s good guidance.
God gives us His word as a “lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path” (Ps 119:105) - the Bible is supposed to be like our moral and spiritual GPS, to help us navigate our way through life. But the FOOL is like the stereotypical, proud husband who stubbornly refuses directions: “I don’t need to stop and ask for directions… I don’t need to plug it into my phone; I know the way!” When he’s headed 180 degrees in the WRONG direction.
Friends, when it comes to navigating this sin-filled, fallen world we live in: YOU NEED DIRECTIONS!
Proverbs 13:10 “wisdom is… with those who take advice.”
But Proverbs 1:7 “fools despise… instruction.”
And not only that, but they do so LOUDLY. V3: “the fool… says to everyone that he is a fool.” Proverbs 13:16 says, “a fool flaunts his folly.” (cf 12:23) He’s PROUD of it.
Typically, the LOUDEST and PROUDEST folks are the WRONGEST. Cuz the truth speaks for itself; you don’t HAVE to scream the truth. The louder you have to shout something, typically, the wronger it is. That’s true in politics. It’s true on social media. It’s true with those trying to redefine morality in our society today. Beware of the loud and proud.
Jesus was the OPPOSITE. Here’s how Jesus described himself: “I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Matt 11:29). Of all the people who had every RIGHT to “flaunt,” who could have just smugly done things his OWN way, Jesus instead humbled himself, taking on the form of a servant, and obediently followed His Father’s will and wisdom - “not my will, but yours be done” - all the way to the CROSS, for us.
And Jesus is inviting US to let HIM be OUR guide this morning as well:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean NOT on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.” (Prov 3:5-7)
Observation #3: Wisdom is PEACEABLE, but folly is POWERFUL and PROMOTED. (10:4-7)
Wisdom, on the one hand, is PEACEABLE; it “brings peace and tranquility” (dictionary.com); wisdom quiets tempers and calms arguments”.
V4 here assures us that “calmness will lay great offenses to rest.”
Proverbs 15:1 reminds us that “A soft answer turns away wrath”
James 3:17 “the wisdom from above is… peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy ”
And Proverbs 3:17 says of wisdom: “all her paths are peace.”
But now consider the context that demands such wisdom, in v4; it’s when “the anger of the RULER rises against you”.
Proverbs 14:29 asserts: “Whoever is slow to anger has great wisdom,
but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.”
And according to Solomon, such hasty tempers are unfortunately, disproportionately a hallmark of the POWERFUL; he says in v5: I’ve seen this “evil under the sun… an error proceeding from the ruler”. Solomon observes that not always, but most often, the more powerful one is, the LESS peaceable and gentle they become. Because you get used to getting your WAY, and thus you become more intolerant of NOT getting your way.
And it’s a chicken-and-egg thing, because not only do the powerful tend to grow less peaceable and more foolish, but the FOOLISH also tend to be the ones who get PROMOTED to such positions of power.
Vv6-7: “Folly is set in many high places… I have seen slaves on horses, [while] princes walk on the ground like slaves.”
And I would argue that we need look no further than the political candidates that BOTH parties have put forward in recent years as case in point. Someone sent me a note last week: “I’d really like to hear you encourage the congregation from the pulpit to go vote next week”; MY response is that “I’d really like to see a party put forward a candidate who’s WORTH voting for!” Someone I’m not totally EMBARRASSED to set up on a horse, as a leader.
Sure: Go and vote this week. But if your hope for our country lies in anyone on the ballot this Tuesday, you’re gonna be WOEFULLY disappointed, friends. Because there’s only ONE hope for our country, and unfortunately, Jesus isn’t on the ballot.
But what’s even sadder: most of us wouldn’t vote for him even if he was. We prefer “loud and proud” leaders to “gentle and lowly” ones. We prefer “powerful” leaders to “peaceable” ones.
If we were 1st c Jews, we would have had a really hard time accepting JESUS as our Messiah. Because like them, we would have been expecting - WANTING - a king like DAVID, a warrior king who rode into town and kicked down Pilate’s door, guns blazing, with a VENGEANCE. NOT a king who rode into town on a humble donkey, flipped over OUR tables in OUR Temple, and then died naked, in humiliation, on a Roman cross.
Here’s how Ryken puts it (237): “Angry rulers rose against [Jesus]… Yet he refused to… fight anger with anger. Instead… ‘When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten’ (1 Pet 2:23). [And] by his calm response, Jesus laid great offenses to rest, carrying our sins upon the cross and forgiving everyone who trusts in him. Now Jesus calls us to follow in his footsteps. Who is the angry or foolish person in your life, and how will you respond? The way to glorify God and to lay great offenses to rest is by keeping the calm of Christ… which we can only do by the power of the Holy Spirit.” THIS is the way of wisdom.
Observation #4: Wisdom is PROFITABLE, but folly is IRRESPONSIBLE and IMPATIENT. (10:8-11)
Solomon notes in v10 that Wisdom “helps one to succeed”; it is profitable, it yields a good REWARD.
But then he gives us SIX examples of just how COUNTER-productive FOLLY can be. Because it’s IRRESPONSIBLE; it’s RECKLESS, careless.
By FOLLY, v8: “He who digs a pit fall[s] into it”. Maybe you’re TRYING to be productive - digging a well, or an irrigation ditch - but if you’re not CAREFUL, your own work can come back to bite you, when you fall in. And speaking of getting bitten…
V8: By FOLLY, “a serpent bite[s] him who breaks through a wall.” Doing some demo on your house? You better be CAREFUL - snakes love hiding in dark, tight spaces.
V9: “He who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them.”
At first it just sounds like Solomon is warning us about common workplace hazards that EVERYONE - the wise AND the fool - could be susceptible to. But Solomon makes it clear in v10 that he specifically has FOLLY in mind, because HOW does the log-splitter endanger himself?
V10: “If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength”. If you hit a solid knot with a dull axe and it can literally bounce right back up and split your head open!
Solomon says, “That is foolish; if you would just take 15 minutes to sharpen your axe… (or check for snakes… or clearly mark your pit…) then not only will you protect yourself, but you’ll actually split a lot more LOGS in the long run as well, with a sharper axe. And that leads to his second point here:
Folly is IMPATIENT. The fool puts his head down and chops away without even thinking; but with wisdom, he’d sharpen the blade first and be FAR more successful.
Similarly, Warren Wiersbe (1139) explains of the serpent-charmer in v11: “He was a fool because he rushed… he wanted to collect his money in a hurry and move on to another location. The more ‘shows’ he put on, the bigger his income. Instead, he made no money at all.” He may have even DIED!
Solomon’s point with both the lumberjack and the snake charmer is this: “Don’t cut corners”. It’s better to do things WELL, than to do them quickly.
Friends: How can you apply this wisdom to your FINANCES this morning? To your MARRIAGE? Your PARENTING? Your SPIRITUAL LIFE?
Financially: Are you looking for a “get rich quick” scheme? Proverbs 13:11 says, “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” Through patient, responsible investing.
Maritally: Wouldn’t it be great if there was a weekend workshop you could just attend and fix overnight DECADES of unhealthy patterns in your marriage? I’ve had couples come to me for counseling, explain the issues they’re having, and then ask, “Is there a book you’d recommend?”
I wanna say, “Yes, the BIBLE, every day, half an hour a day, for the rest of your lives, and go to marriage counseling every week too, and THEN I think you’ve got a shot.” Cuz there’s not a book OUT there that y’all are gonna simply read through in the next 3 weeks together and fix THIS. There are no silver bullets.
In your Parenting: cutting corners may save you a few meltdowns in the SHORT term. Sure, you may save a few tears NOW by simply caving in and buying him that toy he’s demanding at the store, by just letting her have dessert even though she didn’t eat her dinner… but you WILL PAY for it in the LONG run, cuz you’re creating a MONSTER. A spoiled, entitled little monster.
And SPIRITUALLY: There are no magic Bible studies you can join. No magic “RightNow Media” video series you can watch. No magic sermons you can listen to. No magic PRAYERS you can PRAY that instantaneously replace your need for a patient, faithful walk with Christ for the LONG haul - a “long obedience in the same direction”.
Jesus wants so much more than a momentary decision from you; he wants your LIFE!
He wants more than the pledge card you signed at youth camp 30 years ago; he wants your HEART… TODAY!
And he wants more than 5 minutes in your morning devotional and 30 seconds in your bedtime prayer; he wants RELATIONSHIP with you, which requires time spent with Him.
Don’t cut corners in your relationship with Christ. He is worth every second we give Him (and every second we don’t!). He is worth it.
Why? Because HE didn’t cut corners on the CROSS. He patiently, conscientiously endured the agony of the cross to PROFIT US - for OUR eternal gain - “by His wounds, we are HEALED.” (Isa 53:5)
Observation #5: Wisdom is A BLESSING, but folly is A CURSE and [it’s ALSO] COCKY. (10:12-15)
Wisdom is a BLESSING. Some of your Bibles may have a footnote with an alternate translation of v12, or perhaps you’re reading the KJV or NIV or NASB or CSB versions that ALL translate v12 better than my own ESV here; the Hebrew literally reads “the words of a wise man's mouth are gracious”.
Ryken explains (242): “The point of the verse is not that wise speech will get us something from other people (namely, their favor), but that [wise words] will enable us to give something to other people (namely, the gracious love of God)... This is exactly the opposite of the way most people use words most of the time. Words have the power to help us get what we want. We use them to get a laugh, or to get attention, or to get someone to do something for us… to get a job or to get a girl or a guy… But do we use our words as instruments of grace? Do we speak for the good of others or as a way of achieving our own agenda?”
This past August, we had 30 of our leaders here at West Hills take a survey to help us assess our strengths and weaknesses as a church, and one of our lowest scores was question 35: “The atmosphere of our church is strongly influenced by praise and compliments.” And as your pastor, I have to admit that I shoulder MUCH of the blame for that. Cuz culture starts at the top. So I’m committing today, with God’s help, to being more GRACIOUS with my words, using them to BLESS you, as a church. Cuz y’all know me: I don’t have a problem pointing out our SIN. YOUR sin, MY sin, our SOCIETAL sin… I’m GOOD at that. I think I’ve even described my strategy in preaching along those lines: that the more SINFUL I can convince us we really are, the more GRATEFUL we’ll be for our Savior, Jesus. And there’s something to that.
But sometimes we just need GRACE, don’t ya? “Gracious words”, gracious REMINDERS, that “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by GRACE you have been saved” (Eph 2:4-5)
That “to all who received [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… [and] from his fullness we have all received GRACE upon grace.” (Jn 1:12, 16)
I was convicted this week, preparing this sermon, of how much more frequently I quote for you Romans 3, v23 - that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” - but often I fall short of finishing the passage, and reminding you of the GOOD news of v24 - that “we are justified [FREELY] by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”.
So Church: be BLESSED this morning, by God’s gracious LOVE for you in His Son Jesus!
And let’s BE a church that is KNOWN for the grace that we richly lavish on others, out of the abundance of grace that we ourselves have received.
Because the alternative is FOLLY. “the lips of a fool consume him.” They are a CURSE, not ONLY to others, but to HIMSELF; notice: the fool’s words consume HIM! V13: “The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness.”
Jesus warned that “on the day of judgment people will have to give an account for every careless word they speak” (Matt 12:36)
Solomon himself warned us back in ch5: “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God… let your words be few.” (v2)
But the fool in ch10 ignores that wisdom and babbles on: “The fool multiplies words”. And specifically, his problem is his COCKINESS, his self-assuredness. For Solomon, the reason we shouldn’t SAY too much, is that we really don’t KNOW that much. If I can paraphrase him from ch1, he said, “The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t KNOW.” Wisdom is HUMBLING.
But the fool has got PLENTY to say, v14: he “multiplies words, THOUGH NO man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him?”
James, in the NT, would rebuke such a fool: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist [a hevel] that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” (4:13-14)
So Proverbs 27:1 exhorts us: “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”
Not only does the fool not know about tomorrow, v15 tells us he can’t even find his way back to the CITY - he “wears himself out” trying to find the way. It’s a humorous image; roads were clearly marked even in antiquity. Yet no amount of road signs can do a fool any good, if he is convinced he knows a better way, and he refuses direction.
Observation #6: Wisdom is DISCERNING, but folly is INTEMPERATE, INDOLENT, and INDISCREET. (10:16-20)
Wisdom is DISCERNING. Solomon proclaims in v17:
“Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility,
and your princes feast at the proper time,
for strength, and not for drunkenness!”
Solomon’s already told us in ch3 that there is a time for everything under the sun [“Turn, turn, turn…”]. But NOW he tells us that WISDOM is how we can DISCERN what the proper time IS. Think BACK to ch3 for a moment:
We know there’s “a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted”; but WISDOM tells us to plant in the spring and harvest in the fall.
We know there’s “a time to kill, and a time to heal”; but WISDOM tells us you don’t put a 1-year old dog down who’s just got kennel cough, and WISDOM tells us you don’t spend 5 grand on surgery for a 15-year old dog.
We know there’s “a time to embrace, and a time to let go”; but WISDOM tells you which time it IS, in your current relationship - is he the ONE? Is she a keeper? Or do you need to let go, and move on? You need WISDOM.
By contrast, folly is INTEMPERATE; Solomon pronounces: “Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning!”
There’s a time for work, and a time for partying (that was last week, in ch9: “Work hard, play hard”) - but WISDOM tells us that work is for the morning, and partying is for the weekends. Coffee is for breakfast, wine is for dinner.
But folly is INtemperate; it is “IMmoderate in [its] indulgence of appetite” (dictionary.com). Folly says, “Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything”; Solomon is mocking the fool in v19, who LIVES to eat, drink and be merry. Keep in mind: Solomon himself has commended as much to us… IF life here under the sun is all there is. If there is no God and no Afterlife, then “Sure,” Solomon says, “live it up while you can”. But his last line here - “money answers everything” - is so sarcastic that it tips us off that he MUST be critiquing such a philosophy of life.
No, WISDOM teaches us to live lives of moderation.
Second, folly is INDOLENT. It’s LAZY. v18: “Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks.” Solomon points out: even if you ARE lazy and just trying to save yourself some work, the wise person at least recognizes that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. It’s a whole lot easier and cheaper to PATCH a roof than REPLACE it. Identify and address the problems in your life before they compound. Again, I hope you’re thinking of the life application here not just to your home improvement projects, but to your RELATIONSHIPS, your JOB, your SANCTIFICATION. Cuz your friendships, your workplace satisfaction, your growth in godliness - it’s all LIKE your roof: there is normal wear-and-tear over time, that requires maintenance. Don’t be lazy.
But to drive home his overarching point that folly outweighs wisdom, Solomon concludes ch10 with a BONUS, third problem with folly: it is INDISCREET. It LACKS discretion; it is the OPPOSITE of discerning.
V20: “Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king,
nor in your bedroom curse the rich, [this is FOLLY!]
for a bird of the air will carry your voice,
or some winged creature tell the matter.”
Folly, personified, is a drunken, lazy, careless NITWIT.
Wisdom, personified, is JESUS. The all-discerning, sober-minded, hard-working, ever-prudent Son of GOD.
Now, we END with a slightly different “takeaway” this morning. You may have noticed a pattern in my “conclusions” to these sermons in Ecclesiastes: “ch1: You can’t trust in WISDOM; trust in JESUS”; “ch2: You can’t trust in PLEASURE; trust in JESUS”; “ch3: You can’t trust in WORK; trust in JESUS”.
And to be sure, “trust God” is HALF of Solomon’s parting advice for us as we turn now to ch11 for his ending to the passage.
But the OTHER half is this: WORK HARD. Solomon has spent a chapter and a half now extolling wisdom and castigating folly, while also making it clear that folly ECLIPSES wisdom here in this fallen world - that if you just “go with the flow”, DOWN-stream, you’ll live a life of FOLLY; living wisely here under the sun will require you to swim UP-stream. So Solomon’s parting advice here is to do just that: SWIM HARD, upstream. WORK HARD, at getting wisdom (Prov 4:5), at cultivating wisdom (Job 12:12), and at LIVING BY wisdom (Prov 9:6).
But Solomon SAYS all that in a pretty subtle way. He writes:
“Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.”
He borrows this metaphor from the international shipping business (with which Solomon was very familiar: 1 Kgs 9:26-28) of “sending one’s grain… out to sea and then waiting for the ships to return ‘after many days’ with goods from foreign lands” (Ryken, 255) as his way of encouraging us to take the RISK of investing your LIFE in the ways of WISDOM. Of reassuring us that it WILL pay off in the long run. Especially, when “disaster” comes, you’re gonna need wisdom.
But then he says this: “If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
4 He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.”
Translation: there are some things that God, in His providence, decides to leave under your control, and then there are some things that are COMPLETELY out of your control that you’re just gonna have to trust GOD with, and only WISDOM can help you discern the difference. This is Solomon’s version of the SERENITY prayer:
“God: grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I can’t change,
The COURAGE to change the things I can,
And the WISDOM to know the difference.”
I have ABSOLUTELY no control over the clouds, the rain, the wind, and whether or not it blows that tree down in the middle of my field and ruins my entire crop; but I CAN control whether or not I PLANT. Whether or not I sow my seeds in faith, do MY part, and then trust God with the rest. Solomon says, “I can tell ya ONE thing - you DEFINITELY won’t yield a crop by just standing there, staring at the clouds and deliberating it.” Get to work. Then trust God.
V5: “As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. [You don’t know God’s will - whether it’s His will to GIVE life to that baby, or to TAKE it; whether it’s His will to prosper your crop, or DESTROY it; but you DO at least know that it’s His will that you PLANT, in faith, so…] 6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, [WORK HARD!] for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.”
Work like it’s up to you; pray like it’s up to God. Because ultimately, it is.
And at the end of the day, when the wisdom of even the WISEST amongst us falls SHORT, as it will - Solomon was the wisest man of his day, and just look at all the trouble he still managed to get HIMSELF into! - then we trust in Jesus, who as 1 Corinthians 1:30 tells us, “became to us wisdom from God, [our] righteousness, [our] sanctification, and [our] redemption”.