1 Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. 2 Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
In chapter 11, we begin to see Solomon’s experiment beginning to articulate, and it starts with some pretty good business advice. Solomon says that a return on your profit may take a long time, so invest in a number of ventures to get you the return you desire. But he is saying something a little deeper here, and if we switch to the eternal side of things, we get an entirely different concept.
When we look at it eternally, Solomon is telling us that we need patience in waiting on a return on investment. Our investment, spiritually speaking, is in people. The good work we do isn’t immediately seen. So we must invest in many things (people, circumstances). In other words, our generosity to these focuses is what is important.
If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie. 4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
Verses 3-4 and 4 deal with CAUSE AND EFFECT. When he talks about the clouds or the falling of a tree, there is an evident cause and effect we can measure in this life. If the wind blows and a tree whips around and falls, wherever it falls it will stay. It won’t move until someone comes to cut it up. In the same way, circumstance happen in our life. If we are watching and understanding how things work, the result is fairly obvious.
But in this same scenario, we can hesitate and do nothing. When we get to verse 4, we see a farmer looking at the clouds. He knows rain is coming. But if he doesn’t plant, if he allows the circumstance of that storm to cause hesitation or inactivity, then he cannot harvest. In the same way, if we let our circumstances rule our lives, instead of trusting God with them, then we can fall into disobedience.
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed[a] in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
There is a limit to human knowledge. In this life, we have to come to the conclusion that we will not and cannot know everything about God. This is a hardship for some people. If they cannot understand the inner workings of God on every level, then they cannot follow. But God wants us to follow without knowing everything, which requires faith.
Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
Solomon says to invest your time wisely by investing in many things. Why? Because we know less about the future than we like to think. We must always move toward trusting God with our eternal future. Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. 8 However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless.
The Under the Sun premise of life doesn’t bring any additional life. When we take God out of the equation and try to live independent of him, we bring no greater clarity to life. In fact, we invite more darkness. Les accountability isn’t the answer to life. Pleasure itself brings a meaninglessness that confounds us. We must live with a deeper purpose.
You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 10 So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.
This is the pivotal piece in the entire book. First, Solomon begins schooling us on the good life when young. Live it up. Give into your heart, follow what your eyes see. You may remember, back in chapter 2:10, that he says something very similar to this. But back in that chapter, he understands that following his heart, indulging in anything and everything, led to his own ruin. Why is he taking this mantle up again?
The key is in the last line of verse 9: But know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment.
Most of our lives are lived with a sense of living it up. Saturating ourselves with experience, both good and bad. When we are young, we fill ourselves up with experience, feeling in some sense that these experiences make us whole. But in looking back, we realize that these experiences, following our heart and eyes, have the opposite affect.
We can’t live our lives without accountability. Even if we don’t believe in God, it doesn’t mean judgment doesn’t exist. If God brings all of our actions into account, then it doesn’t mean that life is meaningless, but meaningful. Everything is meaningful.
Therefore, if life is meaningful, if everything we do has significance, then we must turn to holiness. Cast off anxiety, he says, meaning that living with an eternal mindset removes the sorrow that rests in us. There is a greater purpose to all things, to the things we do, to the circumstances, to all that happens in this world. We must live with this purpose.