Ecclesiastes 11:4 He that observes the wind shall not sow; and he that regards the clouds shall not reap.… The principle of the text is, that we ought not to be deterred from discharging our duties by trivial difficulties. I. THE NATURE OF THE DUTIES TO BE DISCHARGED — SOWING AND REAPING. 1. They must be attended to in their own proper season. It would be useless for the husbandman to scatter the seed upon the ground in midsummer, or to go to reap at Christmas. It must be attended to in season or never. Now is the time. 2. They have but a short time allotted for their discharge. What is our life? A vapour, etc. Do not sell certainty for a perhaps. 3. They are works done with a view to futurity. No man seattereth the seed to the ground for the sake of scattering it — no man reaps for the sake of reaping; but the man sows for the sake of harvest, and reaps for his support during the year. The whole of life has a regard to futurity. II. THE DIFFICULTIES IN OUR WAY WHILST DISCHARGING THESE DUTIES. Winds, clouds, difficulties within, without, from the world, from the devil. Doubts, fears, weakness. 1. They are the common lot of humanity. 2. They are powerful in their resistance against us. 3. They are changeable in the nature of their resistance. The wind blew to-day from the south, it may be to-morrow from the north; to-day from the east, to-morrow from the west. To-day it may be a tempestuous wind, to-morrow a salubrious breeze. So with the Christian; the tempest does not always blow in the same direction, nor with the same force. 4. They are all under the control of our Heavenly Father. III. THE RESOLUTE MIND WITH WHICH THESE DIFFICULTIES MUST BE OVERCOME, AND THE DUTIES DISCHARGED. 1. We must not look upon the difficulties as things insurmountable. The wind, though it troubles the sower, does not actually prevent him from sowing, and the cloud, though it threatens to pour its contents upon the reaper, does not stop him. Our difficulties are not such as cannot be overcome. 2. We ought to add fresh vigour because of the difficulty. 3. In all our exertions we ought to depend upon God for strength and prosperity. Let us act and pray. (David Hughes, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.WEB: He who observes the wind won't sow; and he who regards the clouds won't reap. |
    |