Ecclesiastes 11: God’s hidden work and His judgment
Begin in prayer
Before we read about the work of God that we cannot know, let us ask Him to show our family that He will judge every life, and to help us see Christ in these words.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh.
Isaiah 55:8
Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Help us trust Your work that we cannot trace. Teach us to enjoy the life You give and remember that our choices come before You. Show us Jesus, our hope before Your judgment. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.
See where we're going
The Preacher urges casting bread on the waters and sharing a portion with many, since future trouble is unknown. Full clouds empty their rain, and a fallen tree stays where it falls. Watching for perfect wind or clouds can keep a person from sowing or reaping. God’s work is beyond our understanding, like the wind’s course and growing bones within the womb. Sowing morning and evening continues the work without knowing which effort will prosper. Light and life are sweet, yet many dark days will come. The young should rejoice while remembering God’s judgment, putting away sorrow and evil because youth itself is fleeting.
As you read Ecclesiastes 11, look for the answers:
- What can watching the wind keep a person from doing? (verse 4)
- Whose work remains beyond our understanding? (verse 5)
- What must a young person remember while rejoicing? (verse 9)
Reflect together
Key truth
God does a work we cannot know, and He will bring every life into judgment.
Casting bread on water and sharing with seven or eight commend open-handed action despite delayed returns and uncertain trouble. Clouds and the fallen tree remind us that events do not wait for our control. The unseen course of wind and growth within the womb point to the work of God that we cannot trace (verse 5). Morning and evening sowing show persistent effort without knowing which seed will prosper. He calls “youth and the dawn of life” vanity (verse 10), a breath that soon passes. Youth’s joy stands under God’s certain judgment, so desire never becomes permission to do evil. Life’s sweetness should be enjoyed with the darkness ahead kept in view. Jesus likens the Spirit’s work in the new birth to the wind, which we hear but cannot trace (John 3 verse 8).
How does Ecclesiastes 11 show us that God does a work we cannot know, and He will bring every life into judgment?
God’s hidden work calls us to act with humble diligence.
We do not understand the wind or the growth of a child within the womb. We also cannot trace everything God does. We should continue the work before us instead of waiting for complete certainty.
We cannot know what trouble is coming, but God does.
The Preacher tells us to share with seven and even eight. Trouble may come in ways we cannot predict. Open-handed giving and repeated sowing put our resources to use despite that uncertainty.
God will judge everything we do, even in our happy days.
The light is sweet, and youth can receive its joys. Dark days and the passing of youth must also be remembered. Every choice comes before the God who will bring us into judgment.
Memorise
you don’t know the work of God who does all.
Ecclesiastes 11:5
Looking to Jesus in my life
Ask yourself in your heart, since God will judge all I do, have I come to Jesus for mercy?
The Preacher warns that “God will bring you into judgment.” Youth, strength and pleasant days do not remove our responsibility before Him. We also cannot make our sins harmless by filling our lives with useful work.
Jesus gave Himself to rescue His people from the judgment their sins deserved. His cross was a willing sacrifice in which He gave His own life for them. That offering is finished and fully sufficient for their reconciliation with God. The Father raised the crucified Son, and His living power gives His people hope beyond their fleeting years.
Turn from sin and trust Jesus. There is forgiveness with Him for all who seek His mercy in faith. The judgment that waits for every young life holds no fear for the one who is hidden in Christ.
Parent's note
Tell your children that their youth does not put them beyond God’s judgment. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus. Pray that God will give them new hearts and willing faith.
Pray together
Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for today’s opportunities, His wise work and the saving sacrifice of Jesus. Bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.
The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
John 3:8
Lord God, You do the work we cannot trace and know the outcomes hidden from us. Forgive our selfishness and our excuses for delaying good. Please bring each one of us to Jesus for mercy before Your judgment. Make our family generous and diligent, grateful for today’s joys and ready to use the opportunities You give. Amen.