Ecclesiastes Chapter Eleven, Sowing & Prospering

Ecclesiastes 11:6 In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Similarly to verses 1 and 2 at the beginning of the chapter, the preacher commends putting our all into the various works that come our way. We make the opportunity to put effort in and accomplish whatever it is our business entails. For me, for instance, it is expounding God’s word for one of the works I put my hand to. Do not wait for the opportunity, begin the work and invite opportunity.

This correlates with verse 6 as well, in which the preacher decried procrastination. The apostle worded it thusly, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat,” 2 Thessalonians 3:10. The Thessalonian Christians were warned not to become gossips and busybodies, trading hard work and effort for slander and backbiting. Those whose hands go slack will never accomplish anything of note, as the preacher rightly observed already.

Here we find the preacher speaking of moments for industry in the morning or evening. Inspiration and opportunity are synonymous; when we have the chance and ability to work, do so. Don’t put off what can (or should) be done today. The element of chance rears its head in his consideration of work under the sun, as it must. He frankly admits that we do not know which work may prosper, and the unspoken implication is that neither may prosper, to be honest. But nothing will certainly prosper if no proper effort is given. That is why the beginning portion of this chapter is given to inspire labor. Industry is not man’s enemy; sin is man’s enemy. We are cursed with a sin nature that taints all good things and perverts them. In work’s case, it becomes difficult, tedious, monotonous, aggravating, boring, etc. Why?

Well, cases vary, but a large part can be boiled down to sin in us. We have an abundant love of self, and can feel too important for grunt work. We can see certain work as beneath us; other work can be too strenuous for us to bother with. The flesh tends to want things simple and easy. For workaholics, the danger can be that work is its own religion and prestige and money is the medium through which we worship. We measure life’s value by our industry. Sin has corrupted the duty man has to put his back to the work. As in the days of Nehemiah, it would seem that self-important people (irrespective of whether they are rich or poor) refused to degrade themselves with honest labor. “But their nobles did not put their shoulders (lit. necks) to the work of their Lord,” Nehemiah 3:5. Rather than view adverse labor with disdain, we should entrust it (and ourselves) to our God and say, “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands,” Nehemiah 6:9. 

As of today I have been employed for a tidy 30 years. My job can be demanding as I try to honor my boss, care for my employees, and give the customer a satisfactory experience when they visit. There is much work to be done and it manifests with myriad expressions. To work honestly and not grudgingly, looking to the Lord is, in my own opinion, an act of worship. We trust in the Lord, that we are where we are meant to be, doing what we have been given to do, and that every place we find ourselves, there is our mission field.

So the preacher leaves off urging his readership to try this or that; in other words take hold of every chance and give it your all. We don’t know what will genuinely prosper, but God does. And just because something we have done in time doesn’t prosper in the moment, that does not mean it won’t bear fruit in days to come, or follow us to the judgment seat and eternity. Look at some of the seminal works done in the second century by numerous Christian authors such as Justin Martyr or Polycarp. The names of similar writers are legion, but consider their writing. They, being dead, still speak just like faithful Abel, Hebrews 11:4. Do what you find in your ability to accomplish in work and all your life, and do so looking to God to provide the increase. It isn’t what is done that matters as much as why we do it, and who it is done for. Practice hard work and generosity, and we will see in time what prospers, either this or that.