Today we will read Ecclesiastes 11: 1-6:

1 Send out your bread upon the waters,
    for after many days you will get it back.
2 Divide your means seven ways, or even eight,
    for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth.
3 When clouds are full,
    they empty rain on the earth;
whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
4 Whoever observes the wind will not sow,
    and whoever regards the clouds will not reap.
5 Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.

6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Today we see the Teacher remind us just how much we don’t know.  We don’t understand all of life. Things are mysteries for a reason. There is so very much that we do not understand. 

So the teacher tells us today, prepare.  In the morning, so your seed.  Work, be faithful.  Do not let your hands be idle.  Once again these last few chapters have a real Proverbs fell to them.  Be smart.  Work hard.  Be ready.  All will be well. 

The thing I think I always come back to when it comes to mysteries and being faithful is that in life there is so much that we do not control.  Honestly, we can’t worry about those things.  We can’t do anything about any of that.  There is so much we do not control. 

But there is, however, much we do control.  I control today if my hands are idle.  I control if I sow in the morning. I control my attitude towards others. I control if I seek to love Jesus or not. I control if I seek to love my neighbor.  

Wisdom comes from understanding what we do control and what we don’t.  We must entrust both to God. The things there is nothing we can do anything about, we give that completely over to God. That is His.  We release, we let go.  We give to Him. 

The things we can control, guess what?  We trust those to God as well.  We trust Him to give us the wisdom to act.  We trust Him to give us the strength to act. We trust Him to give us the courage to act.  

In the end, we trust God with it all.  We do not trust Him with the hard and we do the easy.  We trust Him with both.  And in doing that, we have peace.  

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