In today’s message from Hope for Today, David Hawking delves into the concept of the unknown. Reflecting on Ecclesiastes 11, we are reminded of the unpredictable nature of life and the common uncertainties we all face. Through a discussion of faith and joy, David encourages us to take action and trust in God without a clear view of the future. This episode explores how the unknown can serve as a powerful motivator, embracing risk and commitment as integral parts of walking in faith.
There are some things that we don’t know, the Bible says. We have no idea. People say, could you tell me the will of God for my life? I don’t know. If you meet a specific place to where you’re going to go. There are some statements in the Bible that are very clear. I know what the will of God is according to several statements in the Bible, but most of the time when we ask the question, we mean, well, should I start up that new business? Should I go and try to get that account? Should I get a job in this place? Should I move to this country or this city or what? And you say, what’s the will of God for me? Cast your bread upon the waters. There are times that we have to say as believers, we don’t know.
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Thank you.
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This is Hope for Today, the Bible teaching ministry of David Hawking. So much of life is lived in the unknown. We don’t control the wind. We don’t foresee the outcome of so much of what goes on in our lives. So typically we don’t know which effort will prosper or when. And yet God doesn’t call us to freeze, to stay stagnant. He calls us to act, to give, to work, to trust Him with results we cannot see. Today we begin a message titled, What We Do Not Know, from Ecclesiastes 11, 1-10. We’ll be in the Word in just a moment. First, we want to remind you about the Media Center on our website, davidhawking.org. Listen, go to davidhawking.org, click on the Media tab, and there you can watch complete message series through entire books of the Bible by David. Now, this includes books like Isaiah, Hebrews, Revelation, and so much more. Full verse-by-verse video teachings designed to help you understand God’s Word in depth and apply it with confidence. The Media Center is made possible, by the way, by the faithful ongoing donations of friends who believe strong Bible teaching should be available to anyone, anytime. Visit the Media Center today and continue growing in God’s Word. Amen. And we’ll tell you later how you can come alongside this ministry with a donation of any size to help continue the Media Center in this broadcast. Right now, though, here’s David.
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Take your Bibles, please, and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 11. The subject today is what we don’t know. And it might surprise you, but what we don’t know is a great motivation to our lives. Now we normally think of the opposite. We think what we do know motivates us. But actually what we don’t know motivates us. I liked it in the little illustration I read from Princeton University in those hallowed halls around the Institute of Advanced Studies. A teacher saw several graduate students coming out of one of those heavy science seminars. He was in another department, and he asked the students, he said, well, how did it go? And one student answered, he said, oh, wonderful. Everything we knew about physics last week isn’t true. It seems like that’s the way the world is. The little I know, one fellow said, I owe to my ignorance. The only thing I know for sure is that I don’t know anything for sure. And it seems to me as you have well, you’ve heard probably often before, a person who knows everything really has a lot to learn. The truth is that there are many things we don’t know. The Bible says no one knows the things of God, for instance. Or it says that the secret things belong only to the Lord. There’s lots in life that we don’t know. And we’re going to read about that here in Ecclesiastes chapter 11. What we do not know. That troubles us a lot. But actually can become a motivating factor in our life. It says, cast your bread upon the waters. For you’ll find it after many days. Give a serving to seven and also to eight. For you do not know what evil will be on the earth. Verse 2. Verse 3. 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. Truly the light is sweet, and it’s pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun. But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth. Let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. Therefore, remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh. For childhood and youth are vanity. Let’s look to the Lord in a moment of prayer. Father, we thank you for your word and the encouragement it is to our hearts. And God, I would pray that you would show us today that the things that we don’t know can tremendously motivate us to be what you want us to be. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. In verses 1 to 6, interesting, it’s faith that is the key. And in verses 7 to 12, it’s joy. You see, faith is needed because of what we don’t know. And joy is desirable because of what we don’t know. And I’m going to just share with you six things that I believe this passage tells us that what we don’t know will motivate us to do. Number one. In the first two verses, these little proverbs, it tells us that what we don’t know motivates us to rely upon God for the results and rewards of our labor. By what we don’t know, that motivates us to rely totally upon God for the results and the rewards of our labor. We need to depend upon the Lord. Let’s look at these two verses again. Cast your bread upon the waters. By the way, that’s not unique to the Bible. I found in ancient history there was an Aramaic and an Arabic proverb that was almost exactly the same. Very common statement in ancient times. It deals with faith and risk. Cast your bread upon the waters, for you’ll find it after many days. Give a serving to seven, also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth. Now, this text is indicating, I believe, a reliance upon God for the results and the rewards of our labor because we don’t know what’s going to happen. Now, the extent of such dependence can be looked at in two ways. In the first little parable, cast your bread upon the waters, it’s the issue of faith. In the second little parable of give a serving to seven and also to eight, it’s an issue of enthusiasm. both of which are necessary, even though you don’t know what will happen because of what you do. I want my labors, I want my ministry, I want my work for God to be effective, but I do not know what is going to happen. Therefore, I have a little bit of risk involved, a little bit of faith. That’s the extent of my dependence on God. I’ve got to risk something. I’ve got to cast the bread on the waters. And I’ve got to be enthusiastic. I’ve got to not only be generous and serve seven, I’ve even got to go a little further, maybe eight. Now, in terms of faith, casting your bread upon the waters, this whole little proverb here really teaches four things. One, it teaches decision. Cast. There’s a point in your life when you say, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but you’ve got to make a decision. I find a lot of Christians sit back, they’re apathetic, they’re indifferent, they never do anything. They’re waiting for some clear evidence. But there are some things that we don’t know, the Bible says. We have no idea. People say, could you tell me the will of God for my life? I don’t know. If you mean a specific place to where you’re going to go. There are some statements in the Bible that are very clear. I know what the will of God is according to several statements in the Bible. But most of the time when we ask the question, we mean, well, should I start up that new business? Should I go and try to get that account? Should I get a job in this place? Should I move to this country or this city or what? And you say, what’s the will of God for me? Cast your bread upon the waters. There are times that we have to say as believers, we don’t know. There are certain things we don’t understand. And we have to rely upon God. I think God likes it that way. I think God is happy when we are forced to trust him completely because we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. So there’s a decision time that comes. Cast. Now I think it also involves commitment. When he said cast your bread, he didn’t say cast somebody else’s bread or cast bread in general. He said cast your bread. And he used bread, which is the fundamental substance of one’s life and that which sustains us. It’s kind of interesting. This is a real commitment here. Not only a decision, but a commitment that involves a lot of risk. A lot of us don’t want to do that. I love it when kids come for counseling, they’re planning to get married. You know, there has to be a decision. Will you marry me? And then you’ve got the engagement period, which in this society basically means we’ll think about it until it comes. You know, there’s always that last moment to back out. My best man at my wedding, who’s a missionary overseas at the present time, which has to be a miracle of God’s grace. But anyway, he and I were roommates, and he would say the same thing about me. And in those days, we were a little reckless, more than we are now. And at my wedding, he’s my best man, right? And right before, I mean, we’re up there. You know how you walk up to the preacher, and he’s getting ready to ask you the deal? He whispers in my ear these precious little nuggets. He says, Dave, it’s never too late to change your mind. That’s what I call a friend. Right. I’m really realizing at that moment here we got decision cast and we got bread, man. My whole life’s at stake here. You’re talking commitment. Right. But there’s something else. The matter of reward. Look what that proverb says. You’ll find it. Cast your bread upon the waters and you’ll find it. It’s going to come back. You see, there is reward. And sometimes that isn’t in this life. We know that from the Scripture. There are some things that we do for God that God says are coming later. I don’t know about everything that’s happening in life, and I don’t know how God’s going to reward us. Sometimes He does in this life, as the Bible teaches, but a hundredfold more in the life to come. So don’t ever get really wrapped up in what’s happening here. You’ll find it. So there’s reward always involved. But it may not be here. And that’s what’s discouraging, isn’t it? When we don’t see it happen here, we wonder, was it worth it? But it will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Every cup of cold water given in his name, every casting of the bread is going to be rewarded. You will find. But there’s also the matter of patience. Because he says, after many days. And there’s where it’s hard to live with it. I’ve got to rely upon God, okay? And what I don’t know causes me to rely upon God. So that’s a good thing. I don’t know what’s out there. I’ve got to trust Him. And that involves a little risk, a little faith. And that involves a little enthusiasm, which we’ll get in a moment. But a little faith. And when I say faith, that means decision. That means commitment. That means reward, which I’ve got to trust Him for. And that means patience. It may not come tomorrow. So hard to be patient, isn’t it? Take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 14. Proverbs 19, 17 says that he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and he, the Lord, will pay back what he has given. Whatever you give to the Lord. It says when you give help, you take pity on the poor who don’t have anything, and you give something, you’re generous, giving to the seven and even to the eight. You’re helping somebody. The Bible says the Lord will pay you back. sometime, whether this life or the life to come, he’s going to pay you back. He’s not unjust to forget our work or our labor of love, says Hebrews 6.10. Now Hebrews 14.12, Jesus said, then he also said to him who invited him, he’s talking about a parable of those who were invited to a supper. He says, when you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor your rich neighbors. lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Because they cannot repay you, for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just. God’s going to repay you. Turn over to chapter 16. Here’s another illustration. about being generous and having enthusiasm, not worrying about what I don’t know, but having enthusiasm with what I have now and what I can do for God now, not worrying about what may happen tomorrow. Luke 16, 9, I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon or money or wealth. Now, why is it unrighteous? Does that mean it’s evil or sinful? No, it means it’s no morals connected to it. It’s just a thing. His point is that so often we make it a moral issue. It’s just a thing. So he says, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, or money. That means give money, which has no moral quality to it except as how you use it. So make friends by it, that when you fail, or many texts read, it fails… meaning the money runs out, they, meaning the people you made friends with, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. If you like it in the vernacular, it means they’ll be happy to see you when they get to heaven. Isn’t that neat? When you get to heaven, you’re going to have a lot of things that are going to tie you together with folks. And you’re going to be so excited and so happy. And one of them is when people know that you have ministered to them, what a joy that’s going to be when you see them in heaven. How they’re going to just love you for it and receive you warmly, according to Jesus, Luke 16. That’s an interesting little saying, isn’t it? Little truth there we ought to get a hold of. Now back to Ecclesiastes chapter 11. What we’re saying is that what we don’t know, and there are a lot of things we don’t know, we don’t know what evil or calamity is going to come. So in the light of the fact that we don’t know it, what should we do? Rely upon God. Have faith and enthusiasm in your life. Faith to cast your bread on the waters in the first place, believing that God ultimately will reward you, whether you ever get rewarded in this life. And secondly, to be generous and enthusiastic. Give to seven or even to eight. Why, that’s a neat principle, isn’t it? And not worry about the fact of what you won’t have after you are generous. David said… that he was young and he was old, but he had never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. The Bible says the Lord God is a sun and a shield and he will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Isn’t that neat? We don’t need to worry about anything. See, it’s fun to live by faith, but I’ll tell you what happens when you’re crawling out on that limb and you see other folks sawing it off, it does make you nervous. You know what I mean? There’s a certain amount of risk, isn’t there, in serving the Lord. There’s a certain amount of risk in everything we do in life. Cast your bread on the waters and give generously. And don’t think about whether or not you’ve got enough for tomorrow. You leave that with the Lord. The Lord will take care of that. You can’t out-give the Lord. And the Lord has promised to pay you back. And the Lord has promised to take care of all your needs. That is really a fascinating principle. So you see, what we don’t know does motivate us. Now, a second area. By the way, the explanation simply behind that is the fact that we don’t know what evil will be on the earth. Secondly, when you come to verse 3, what we don’t know also motivates us to resist the tendency to do nothing because of what we fear may happen. Boy, is this a common problem. A lot of us do nothing because we’re afraid of what is going to happen, but the truth is we don’t know that it will happen. Hey, you don’t know. And I’ve seen a lot of people who walk in and out and say, you, brother, are in absolute perfect health. You are the most marvelous specimen. And he dies the next day. We do not know. And because of what we don’t know, it ought to motivate us to resist any tendency to do nothing because of what we fear may happen. Don’t let it happen to you. Ever. Verse 3 says, if the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth. And if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie. What’s the point there? Well, here we have the picture of a storm dumping out all of its rain and it knocks over a tree. The point is you cannot control some things. You can’t. A few years ago, a friend I used to know over in Long Beach, he called me one day. I was at the office studying, and he’s just a couple blocks from the church. And he says, get your tail over here. I’m studying. I said, what did you say? He said, would you get over here quick? I knew it was raining outside and it was bad, bad storm. I said, well, I’m studying the holy word of God. He said, get over here. I said, hey, I got a lot to do. Why should I come over? He said, there’s a tree ready to fall on my house. And I don’t know who I’ve called several people. Get over here. I know you’re there. Now, come on over here. I said, man, friends are friends, but I don’t know. So anyway, I got in my car, I went over there, and it was a mess. I looked out the car window, and he’s screaming and yelling, and I’m looking at the mud and all that. So I stepped outside gently in the mud. He said, well, you get over here! He’s just going crazy. He’s got ropes trying to pull the tree. So we got over there, and we just got, and this is not an exaggeration. I just placed my hands on that tree just at that moment, and that tree fell. I love the timing of God. And it missed his house by about two inches. Just… Picked off a couple of the frames on the outside of his windows, but it just missed the house. Crashed down. I said, well, let me know when you need my help. He mumbled… But you know, you can’t stop that tree. It was coming down. There was no way he was going to stop it and save the tree. He had ropes and everything. It’s coming down. There’s some things you cannot control in life. And you know that, and I know that.
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That’s Bible teacher and author David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back in a minute or so to put the finishing touches on today’s lesson. Some additional teaching is ahead, so do stick around for that. Right now, though, Matt’s here, and we’re going to tell you about a book that takes a look at the subject of love, the way God defines it, rooted in truth and powerful enough to expose what’s real.
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Jim, I love 1 Corinthians 13. Oh, yeah. And isn’t it intriguing that the King James Version uses the word charity for love?
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Let’s read through some of those beautiful verses, Matt, and we’ll see where that occurs. The first one, though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charity, love, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not… Charity. Charity. I am nothing.
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And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
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Charity suffereth long in his kind. Charity love envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself up, is not puffed up.
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And death not behave itself unseemingly. Seeketh not her own. Is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. Rejoices not in iniquity. Wow.
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But rejoices in the truth. Bears all things. Believes all things.
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Hopes all things.
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Adoreth all things.
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Yeah.
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Charity. Yeah. Never faileth. You read through that, and I don’t know about you, but I get convicted. Big time. Big time. But what a roadmap for loving the way God wants us to love them. This changes lives and hearts.
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Wow. If we as believers dive deep into this passage, just let it thoroughly saturate our hearts. Understand and put its truth into action. There you go. We’re going to be radically transformed. Our marriages, parenting, work relationships. Friendships and more. Yeah, yeah.
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Imagine the impact it can have on our gospel testimony. Amen. Well, discover the wondrous story of love in 1 Corinthians 13 with David Hawking’s book, Love is the Greatest. It’s just $15. Your purchase will bless your life and be a blessing to hope for today. Amen. We also have a special bundle package of David’s sermon notes and outlines for all 39 of his Old Testament message series. These are the sermon notes and outlines that David used when he originally taught these messages. Verse by verse, clear and thorough study notes that will help you get the most out of, again, David’s 39 teaching series in the Old Testament. You can use these as you listen to the broadcast when we feature Old Testament series in the future. We’ll be right back. To get these materials, call 875-BIBLE. In the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE. In Canada, Bible is 24253. You can also order online at davidhawking.org. And by the way, if you’d like to support this broadcast beyond the cost of a resource purchase, write to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. You can also make a contribution or share a prayer request if there’s something burdening your heart right now. We do love to pray for listeners. Call us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. You can also make a donation or share a prayer request on our website, DavidHocking.org. And thank you for standing with us. Right now, here’s David with his closing comments.
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I love, folks, the title of this particular message, What We Do Not Know. Maybe you, like me, get tired of everybody who seems to know everything about everything. You know it’s not true, but they often brag and are arrogant and proud. Well, we need to share with them chapter 11 of Ecclesiastes because it’s telling us what we don’t know. Just ten verses, but boy, are they packed. And we need to understand that even the creation, as this wonderful chapter does, shows us what we don’t know. And it even mentions to us that just because you’ve lived a long time, that’s no guarantee that you have God’s wisdom. And probably one of the most important passages in the entire book of Ecclesiastes is the last two verses of chapter 11. He tells a young man to rejoice and let his heart cheer him, but he needs to understand that God’s going to bring him into judgment for what he has done and said. And so there’s an admonition to get rid of sin and evil out of your life. Because even being young, he calls vanity, it’s emptiness. It isn’t the summum bonum, and you are not going to be young for very long. What is a man’s life like? But James says it’s a vapor that appears for a little time and then soon vanishes away. Folks, it’s an inevitable fact if God delays His coming that we are going to die. And God knows the day we’re born, the day we’re going to die, and all the days in between. And we need wisdom to handle life and to give the glory to God alone. May God help us all to understand what we don’t know and to fall upon our blessed Lord. As Proverbs 3 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don’t lean to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. God bless you. I hope you can be with us for our next broadcast.
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Well, thank you, David. And friend, if you missed any part of today’s program or a recent broadcast, for a limited time, you can catch up or re-hear a program on our website, davidhawking.org. davidhawking.org. Click on the radio tab and be sure to tell someone you love about that as well. It’s a great resource. If you need prayer, by the way, you can also get in touch with us. Call 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. We’d love to agree with you in prayer for whatever is happening in your life today, whatever is burdening your heart. Tomorrow, we continue in Ecclesiastes chapter 11 and deal with what we cannot see and cannot control, yet must trust God with. Don’t miss day two of What We Do Not Know right here on Hope for Today. Invite a friend to listen along with you. God bless.
