What We Don't Know
There is so much we do not know, and yet we survive.
Send out your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back. Divide your means seven ways, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth. 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. Whoever observes the wind will not sow; and whoever regards the clouds will not reap. 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. 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. Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. Even those who live many years should rejoice in them all; yet let them remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. - Eccles. 11:1-8
You work hard all day, but if you do something at night to keep yourself busy, you never know if that will be the thing that brings you wealth as well as joy.
The author tells us to appreciate what we enjoy in the days of our lives because there could be many days of darkness.
We used to look for signs throughout the days and seasons to tell us when to sow and when to reap but we have lost those signs today. We work the same way if it is raining or windy or snowing or sunny.
We may make minor adjustments, leaving earlier or later depending on the weather conditions, but we don't stop working.
If the author had seen the way we live today, perhaps he would be even more cynical.
No wonder so many ignore the changes in our climate. They are blind to them. Like many things, if it doesn't directly affect me, it isn't worth paying attention to.
Pick a state of our nation today and see. Crime, homelessness, poverty, hunger. All these things can be ignored. What we don't see, we don't know, and what we don't know can't hurt us, right?
He advises us to cast our bread upon the waters and eventually, we will get it back. But we may say, why bother? We will get it back anyway, so don't bother to give it away.
This is vanity.
More to come...