Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 - Read Ecclesiastes Chapter 11
Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 11:4 "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done."
Waiting for perfect conditions will mean inactivity. This practical insight is especially applicable to our spiritual life. If we wait for the perfect time and place for personal Bible reading, we will never begin. If we wait for a perfect church, we will never join. If we wait for the perfect ministry, we will never serve. Take steps now to grow spiritually. Don't wait for conditions that will never exist.
Verses 1-6. Solomon presses the rich to do good to others. Give freely, though it may seem thrown away and lost. Give to many. Don't excuse yourself from doing good because you have done good things in the past. It is not lost, but well laid out. We have reason to expect evil, for we are born to trouble; it is wisdom to do good in the day of prosperity. Riches cannot profit us, if we do not benefit others. Every man must labor to be a blessing to that place where the providence of God casts him. Wherever we are, we may find good work to do, if we have hearts to do it. If we magnify every little difficulty, start objections, and fancy hardships, we will never go on, much less go through with our work. Winds and clouds of tribulation are, in God's hands, designed to try us. God's work will agree with His word, whether we see it or not. And we need to trust God to provide for us, without our anxious, distressing worries.
Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Verses 3-5. Solomon's pessimistic writing is designed to teach us not to embrace a materialistic lifestyle. Solomon shoots down most common beliefs about life. He attacks these false philosophies so that we may escape the bitterness he experienced. Solomon does not support a despairing attitude. Just because life is uncertain does not mean we should do nothing. We are to face life's opportunities with Godly attitudes.
Verse 5. The formation of the fetus and the physical birth of a baby are still great mysteries today. Spiritual rebirth is an even greater mystery. You do not know how the Spirit will move. The Lord Jesus said that, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). There is a great deal that we do no know.
I believe the point is simply this: Don't let what you don't know disturb what you do know. Let me give you an example. Any person knows enough to sit in a chair. There is an empty chair in my dining room right now. I don't mind getting up and going over there to sit down. Now there are a lot of things I don't know about that chair. I don't know anything about its construction--who made it or how it was made--but I do know that I can sit in that chair and it will hold me up. That is really all I need to know about the chair. So don't let what you don't know disturb what you do know.
Verse 7-8. Solomon is no dreary pessimist in 11:7-12:14. He encourages us to rejoice in every day but to remember that eternity is far longer than a person's life span. Psalm 90:12 says, "Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should." The wise person does not just think about the moment and its impact; he takes the long-range view from eternity. Approach your decisions from an eternal perspective. Consider their impact ten years from now and forever. Live with the attitude that although this life is short, we can life with God forever.
Verses 7-10. Life is sweet to bad men, because they have their portion in this life; it is sweet to good men, because it is the time of preparation for a better; it is sweet to all. Here is a caution to think of death, even when life is most sweet. Solomon makes an effecting address to young persons. They would desire opportunities to pursue every pleasure. Then follow your desires, but be assured that God will call you into judgment. Many give in to every appetite, and rush into every vicious pleasure! But God registers every one of their sinful thoughts and desires, their idle words and wicked words. Solomon evidently means to condemn the pleasures of sin. His object is to draw the young to purer and more lasting joys. This is not the language of one grudging youthful pleasures, because he can no longer partake of them; but of one who has, by a miracle of mercy, been brought back into safety. He would persuade the young from trying a fateful course. If the young want to live a life of true happiness, if they want to secure happiness hereafter, let them remember their Creator in the days of their youth.
Verse 10. We often hear people say, "It doesn't matter." But many of your choices will be irreversible--they will stay with you for a lifetime. What you do when you're young does matter. Enjoy life now, but don't do anything physically, morally, or spiritually that will prevent you from enjoying life when you are old.
It is very important that you make the right choices now. How many men have lived wasted lives and are living them today, because they made the wrong choices in their youth. Your youthful days are empty if they are not lived right. Life is a gift that is given to us by God, given one day at a time, in fact, one second at a time. It is a precious gift, and it is to be used for the glory of God.