JUN 18

Ecclesiastes 11:3-5
Memorise Matthew 6:34
“Take therefore no thought for the morrow…”

Solomon continues to describe the unpredictable nature of life, where man can never know the future. We can never understand the way clouds function, where or when a tree will fall, when the wind blows or when the clouds will rain, or even the miracle of life, of how a baby grows in the mother’s womb. All these are the works of God, and we do not waste our time questioning them to try to understand that which man can never know.

The man that stands there observing the wind and regarding (looking and considering) the clouds will never get down to work to sow and reap. He will worry if the winds would blow away his seeds, or the rains affect his harvest, and never find the right time to start work. This is an illustration about life in general, for if we spend our time worrying about the job that lies ahead, we will never get down to it. If we always wait for the perfect opportunity to start, we will never get started. There are truly many things out of our control, and solely within the domain of God’s sovereignty. We simply do our part and trust in His Will. This applies to all areas of our life, in our work, our duties. This is especially so for our ministries as well and our service to God, for we serve, evangelise, pray, study the word of God, and leave all the results to God. Our duty is simply to do all that God wants us to do, to please him and glorify him in all that we do.

We ought to heed the advice of Jesus at the sermon on the mount, when He asked, ‘which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?’ (Matthew 6:27). This really shows the foolishness of worrying over things that we cannot change. No amount of observing the wind and the clouds will change anything. Instead we ought to just get down to the sowing, and trust in the Lord to provide the right weather for the crops to grow. Even if the rains do not come, we can still rejoice and give thanks, knowing that it is God’s will that the harvests do not do well this season.

Thought: Why worry when we can pray?
Prayer: Lord, help me to realise that excessive worry and inactivity is a sin, and that we ought rather to trust in the Lord.