Cast Your Bread
Ecclesiastes 11:1 says “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” Because I wanted to understand this verse better, I read some commentaries and most talked about investing or sharing what we have with others, without expectation of return. The Lord’s Prayer says “give us this day our daily bread.” Bread can mean food, but to me it’s more of a generic term for provision, meaning all things we need to survive on a daily basis; money, food, water, etc. A lot of times when you throw something into the water, it disappears, and whether it sinks or it floats away with the current, you’re not really sure where it goes. When we release finances to the church or to those in need, we may not see immediately where it goes, it may seem to have been a waste, lost forever. But the bible says we’ll see it again after many days.
Several years ago, our area suffered a lot of damage from massive flooding brought on by Hurricane Harvey. So many people lost everything they had, including our Pastor and the church. In times like these, you wouldn’t blame someone for hanging on to all they had, but what I witnessed during that time was just the opposite. People continued to give whatever they could to support others. When you can trust in God as your provider of all your needs, you can rest assured that if you “cast your bread” towards those in need, not only will it reach its intended destination, but that you will “find” more bread, for yourself and to cast again.
I believe prayer is like this too. Sometimes we are in need of something for ourselves, but when we take our eyes off of our own troubles and begin to pray for others, we are becoming more Christ-like because we’re putting the needs of others above ourselves. We may never see the fruit of our prayers, but they never go unheard and they always reach their destination. And all the while, while we were casting our prayers on the waters, God was working on our needs too.
While researching this scripture I found one version that may not be biblically accurate, but I thought it was fitting. “Cast your bread upon the water and after many days, it will come back buttered.” When you do right by God, you will find that the blessings you receive back are better than what you did or gave. Luke 6:38 (MSG) says it like this, “Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”