The Improbable Certainty and Mystery of Faith
Photo by Edward Cisneros on Unsplash
Just as you don’t know how the breath of life enters the limbs of a child within its mother’s womb, you also don’t understand how God, who made everything, works. (Eccl 11:5 GW) [context– Eccl 11:1-6]
Improbable Certainty
There’s no such thing as a risk-free life. Many people may think they want a risk-free life but it’s a delusion. Such certainty in life is not attainable.
If somehow—against all probability—a risk-free life could be gotten, it wouldn’t be much of a life. The movie, The Truman Show, depicts a choreographed risk-free reality-show life, portraying an idyllic life for Truman. But when Truman realizes how his life is staged to be risk-free, he chooses to escape it.
Sure, we all would like to skip certain difficulties in our lives or avoid them in some way. But if everything in our life was predictable and planned out, it would be boring and pointless.
On the other hand, many people believe in fate, as if everything in life is already predetermined. Fate is not faith. If anything, fate is a counterfeit faith.
The essence of faith is trust—an implicit and personal trust in God (Heb 11:6).
Fate is blind. Challenging or testing fate is like hope against hope. Some people imagine that abandoning themselves to whatever fate brings is an act of faith. It isn’t. Fate is arbitrary and capricious.
True, genuine faith is not blind but sees beyond circumstances and what appears predetermined or set. Faith is grounded in assurance with hope in a living God.
Seeking a risk-free life is a feeble attempt to control life. Such an attempt defies fate and scorns faith.
When it comes to investing our time, energy, and money in some venture, there is always an inherent risk. No one can predict the future accurately all the time. Some people are able to predict certain things .sometimes based on probabilities and various calculations. But most of us aren’t able to do this.
The natural world is an illustration board designed by the hand of God. Lessons can be drawn from the cycles and seasons of the natural world. These lessons may apply to farming or business or our interaction with others. The natural world teaches us of the inherent risks in life.
But as the saying goes—nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Insights
Chapter 11 begins with Solomon delivering several proverbial sayings before bringing his collection of existential reflections to a conclusion.
At first glance, this may seem to be an odd and almost random group of thoughts. But there’s a theme tying them together leading to the conclusion.
Throwing bread out on the water isn’t some superstitious custom but a figurative expression. It could allude to the risks and rewards of shipping grain across the seas, which may be what Solomon has in mind. But this expression may also be an encouragement towards generosity.
When verse 2 is linked with the first verse, the second couplet of this poetic and proverbial couplet indicates there’s a risk in being generous but it’s a wise risk.
Verse 2 reminds me of the commonly misunderstood parable of Jesus about an unjust yet shrewd steward. When his master intends to hold the steward accountable, the steward makes discount deals with those who are indebted to the master.
The steward was commended by his master for creating options and building bridges of relationship with his discounted deals to the debtors (Luke 16:8-9). There’s more to the story but here’s the point.
The unjust steward set aside his greed in a way that benefited those who owed debts to his master. He looked beyond his own greedy desires as he realized his future need. Generosity can be more than a gesture of goodwill. It can also be a wise decision.
Verse 3 is a reminder of the cycles and seasons in the natural world that correspond to what we know as cause and effect—certain conditions and events bring about and precede other events or results.
The natural result of clouds full of rain is the rain falling upon the land. The law of gravity results in a tree falling in a certain direction and staying there.
Many events in life are obvious and predictable. As Solomon declared before, there is a season and purpose for all things in life (Eccl 3:1-8).
In verse 4, we have the flip side of what is expressed in verse 1. The law of sowing and reaping is similar to cause and effect. A farmer who tries to determine the perfect time to sow a crop or reap a harvest without risk will end up doing neither.
This illustration reminds us of a person who is fearful of taking any risk and looks for the perfect time to act. It also speaks of a person who lacks conviction and commitment. A person who is risk-aversive tends to struggle with true faith.
Genuine faith requires a conviction and commitment of trust in God.
A person of faith accepts and understands the natural laws of cause and effect and of sowing and reaping. They also realize the many things beyond their grasp to understand or control.
The final verse of this segment can be taken as an exhortation to live by faith and with a generous heart. Again, faith is an act of trust in God—not ourselves, nor fate, nor in nature.
Existential Reflections
An indication of maturity is an awareness of certain realities in life.
As a child grows and matures, they learn to accept and take on age-appropriate responsibilities. Education provides a child with the opportunity to learn about the world beyond their family and home.
This process of learning and developing a sense of personal responsibility in life is an important part of the progression of maturity.
Another sign of true maturity is recognizing various limitations in life. A person’s own limitations and the existence of what is beyond our control in the world around us.
We can’t control the weather and neither can we defy gravity. We can suspend the effect of gravity but only in a temporary way.
We can’t predict the future with accuracy and consistency. Even with all our scientific discoveries and learning, there are many things about life itself we still can’t explain with certainty.
We also don’t understand God—the Creator of life. This is one reason fate and faith may seem similar. But they’re not. Fate and faith are vastly different.
Fate is impersonal. It’s arbitrary and often seen as unfair. It is the effect of some predetermined cause.
When a person says they’ve accepted their fate in life, they resign themselves to a capricious and unknown destiny—like gambling based on betting odds.
Faith is personal. It’s based on our trust in God who is the Creator and Sustainer of life, and who gives purpose to our life.
A person of faith is free to take risks because of their trust in God rather than an unknown outcome. Their faith enables them to see beyond immediate circumstances and what may seem to be pointless and unfair.
When you or I live by faith, we can be generous because we trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness. We can take reasonable risks based on experience and wisdom gained through trusting in God.
As has been said many times by many people, “ I don’t know what the future holds but I know who holds the future.”
What about you?
Are you still seeking a risk-free life?
Have you abandoned yourself to fate?
Or…
Have you learned to trust in God by faith?
This is an excerpt from my newest book available on Amazon! Glimmers of Light in the Darkness of Life
The Scripture text for this devotional study can be found by clicking the blue button link– “Ecclesiastes Chap 11” [I’ve used God’s Word Translation (GW) for ease of reading but the button link will take you to the text in a parallel version with the NKJV text.]
Also, for further commentary, I recommend Enduring Word by Ptr David Guzik.
