"He that observeth
the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not
reap. " - Ecclesiastes
11:4
SOW when the time
comes, whatever wind blows. Reap when the times comes, whatever
clouds are in the sky. There are, however, qualifying proverbs,
which must influence our actions. We are not to discard prudence
in the choice of the time for our work. "To everything there is a
season, and a time for every purpose under heaven/' It is well to
sow when the weather is propitious. It is wise to make hay while
the sun shines." Cut your corn when there is the probability of
getting it dry.
But Solomon here is
pushing the other side of the matter. He had seen prudence Turn to
idleness; he had noticed some people wait for a more convenient
season, which never came. He had observed sluggards making
excuses, which did not hold water. So he, with a blunt word,
generalizes, in order to make the truth more forcible. Not
troubling about the exceptions to the rule he states it broadly
thus: "Take no notice of winds or clouds. Go on with your work
whatever happens. He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he
that regardeth the clouds shall not reap
I. The first
thought that is suggested by these words is this:
NATURAL
DIFFICULTIES MAY BE UNDULY CONSIDERED.
A man may observe the
wind, and regard the clouds a great deal too much, and so neither
sow nor reap.
Note here, first, that
In any work this would hinder a man. In any labour to which
we set our hand, if we take too much notice of the difficulties,
we shall be hindered in it. It is very wise to know the difficulty
of your calling, the sorrow which comes with it, the trial which
arises out of it, the temptation connected therewith; but if you
think too much of these things, there is no calling that will be
carried on with any success. Poor farmers, they have a crop of hay
and cannot get it in; they may fret themselves to death if they
like, and never earn a penny for a seven years' fretting! We say
of their calling that it is surrounded with constant trouble. They may lose
everything just at the moment when they are about to gather it in.
The seed may perish under the clods when it is first sown. It is
subject to blight and mildew, and bird, and worm, and I know not
what beside; and then, at the last, when the fanner is about to
reap the harvest, it may disappear before the sickle can cut it.
Take the case of the sailor. If he regards winds and clouds, will
he ever be put to sea? Can you give him a promise that the wind
will be favourable in any of his voyages, or that he will reach
his desired haven without a tempest? He that observeth the winds
and clouds, will not sail; and he that regardeth the clouds will
never cross the mighty deep. If you turn from the farmer and the
sailor, and come to the trader, what tradesman will do anything if
he is always worrying about the competition, and about the
difficulties of his trade, which is so cut up that there is no
making a living by it? I have heard this, I think, about every
trade, and yet our friends keep on living, and some of them get
rich, when they are supposed to be losing money every year! He
that regardeth the rise and fall of prices, and is timid, and will
do no trading because of the changes on the market, will not reap.
If you come to the working-man, it is the same as with those I
have mentioned; for there is no calling or occupation that is not
surrounded with difficulties. In fact, I have formed this judgment
from what friends have told me, that every trade is the worst
trade out; for I have found somebody in that particular line who
has proved this to a demonstration. I cannot say that I am an
implicit believer in all I hear about this matter. Still, if I
were, this would be the conclusion that I should come to, that he
that observed the circumstances of any trade or calling, would
never engage in it at all; he would never sow; and he would never
reap. I suppose he would go to bed, and sleep all the
four-and-twenty hours of the day; and after a while, I am afraid
he would find it had become impossible even to do that, and he
would learn that to turn, with the sluggard, like a door on its
hinges, is not unalloyed pleasure after all.
Well now, dear friends,
if there be these difficulties in connection with earthly callings
and trades, do you expect there will be nothing of the kind with
regard to heavenly things? Do you imagine that, in sowing the good
seed of the kingdom, and gathering the sheaves into the garner,
you will have no difficulties and disappointments? Do you dream
that, when you are bound for heaven, you are to have smooth
sailing and propitious winds all the voyage? Do you think that, in
your heavenly trading, you will have less trials than the merchant
who has only to do with earthly business? If you do, you make a
great mistake. You will not be likely to enter upon the heavenly
calling, if you do nothing else but unduly consider the
difficulties surrounding it.
But, next, in the
work of liberality this would stay us. This is Solomon's theme
here. "Cast thy bread upon the waters;" "Give a portion to seven,
arid
also to eight;'' and so on. He means, by
my text, that if anybody occupies his mind unduly with the
difficulties connected with liberality, he will do nothing in that
line. ''He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that
regardeth the clouds shall not reap." "How am I to know," says
one," that the person to whom I give my money is really deserving?
How do I know what he will do with it? How do I know that I may
not be encouraging idleness or begging? By giving to the man, I
may be doing him real injury." Perhaps you are not asked to give
to an individual, but to some great work. Then, if you regard the
clouds, you will begin to say, "How do I know that this work will
be successful, the sending of missionaries to a cultivated people
like the Hindoos? Is it likely that they will be converted?" You
will not sow, and you will not reap, if you talk like that; yet
there are many who do speak in that fashion. There was never an
enterprise started yet but somebody objected to it; and I do not
believe that the best work that Christ himself ever did was beyond
criticism; there were some people who were sure to find some fault
with it. "But," says another, "I have heard that the management at
headquarters is not all it ought to be; I think that there is too
much money spent on the secretary, and that there is a great deal
lost in this direction and in that." Well, dear friend, it goes
without saying that if you managed .things, they would be
managed perfectly; but, you see, you cannot do everything, and
therefore you must trust somebody. I can only say, with regard to
societies, agencies, works, and missions of all kinds, "He that
observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds
shall not reap." If that is what you are doing, finding out
imperfections and difficulties, it will end in this, you will do
nothing at all.
Going a little further,
as this is true of common occupations and of liberality, so it is
especially true in the work of serving God. Now, if I were
to consider in my mind nothing but the natural depravity of man, I
should never preach again. To preach the gospel to sinners, is as
foolish a thing as to bid dead men rise out of their graves. For
that reason I do it, because it has pleased God, "by the
foolishness of preacjiing, to save them that believe." When I look
upon the alienation from God; the hardness of the human heart, I
see that old Adam is too strong for me; and if I regarded that one
cloud of the fall, and original sin, and the natural depravity of
man, I, for one, should neither sow nor reap. I am afraid that
there has been a good deal of this, however. Many preachers have
contemplated the ruin of man, and they have had so clear a view of
it that they dare not say, "Thus saith the Lord, Ye dry bones,
live." They are unable to cry, "Dear Master, speak through us, and
say, 'Lazarus, come forth!' " Some seem to say, "Go and see if
Lazarus has any kind of feeling of his condition in the grave. If
so, I will call him out, because I believe he can come;" thus
putting all the burden on Lazanis, and depending upon Lazarus for
it. But we say, "Though he has
been dead four days, and is already becoming corrupt, that has
nothing to do with us. If our Master bids us call him out from his
grave, we can call him out, and he will come; not because he can
come by his own power, but because God can make him come, for the
time now is when they that are in their graves shall hear the
voice of God, and they that shall hear shall live.
But, dear friends,
there are persons to whom we should never go to seek their
salvation if we regarded the winds and the clouds, for they are
peculiarly bad people. You know, from observation, that there are
some persons who are much worse than others, some who are not
amenable to kindness, or any other human treatment. They do not
seem to be terrified by law, or affected by love. We know people
who go into a horrible temper every now and then, and all the hope
we had of them is blown away, like sere leaves in the autumn wind.
You know such, and you "fight shy" with them. There are such boys,
and there are such girls, full of mischief, and levity, or full of
malice and bitterness; and you say to yourself, "I cannot do
anything with them. It is of no use." Just so. You are observing
the winds, and regarding the clouds. You will not be one of those
to whom Isaiah says, "Blessed be ye that sow beside all
waters."
Someone may say, "I
would not mind the moral condition of the people, but it is their
surroundings that are the trouble. What is the use of trying to
save a man while he lives, as he does, in such a horrible street,
in one room? What is the use of seeking to raise such and such a
woman while she is surrounded, as she is. with such examples? The
very atmosphere seems tainted." Just so, dear friend; while you
observe the winds, and regard the clouds, you will not sow, and
you will not reap. You will not attempt the work, and 6f course
you will not complete what you do not commence.
So, you know, you can
go on making all kinds of excuses for doing nothing with certain
people, because you feel or think that they are not those whom God
is likely to bless. I know this to be a common case, even with
very serious and earnest workers for Christ. Let it not be so with
you, dear friends; but be you one of those who obey the poet's
words, -
"Beside all waters
sow;
The highway furrows
stock;
Drop it where thorns
and thistles grow;
Scatter it on the
rock. "
Let me carry this
principle, however, a little further. You may unduly consider
circumstances in reference to the business of your own eternal
life. You may, in that matter, observe the winds, and never
sow; you may regard the clouds, and never reap. "I feel," says
one, "as if I never can be saved. There never was such a sinner as I am. My sins are peculiarly black."
Yes, and if you keep on regarding them, and do not remember the
Saviour, and his infinite power to save, you will not sow in
prayer and faith. "Ah, sir; but you do not know the horrible
thoughts I have, the dark forebodings that cross my mind!" I know
that, dear friend; I do not know them. 1 know what I feel myself,
and I expect that your feelings are very like my own; but, be what
they may, if, instead of looking to Christ, you are always
studying your own condition, your own withered hopes, your own
broken resolutions, then you will still keep where you are, and
you will neither sow nor reap.
Beloved Christians, you
who have been believers for years, if you begin to live by your
frames and feelings, you will get into the same condition. "I do
not feel like praying," says one. Then is the time when you ought
to pray most, for you are evidently most hi need; but if you keep
observing whether or not you are in the proper frame of mind for
prayer, you will not pray. "I cannot grasp the promises," says
another; "I should like to joy in God, and firmly believe in his
Word; but 1 do not see anything in myself that can minister to my
comfort." Suppose you do not. Are you, after all, going to build
upon yourself? Are you trying to find your ground of consolation
in your own heart? If so, you are on the wrong tack. Our hope is
not in self, but in Christ; let us go and sow it. Our hope is in
the finished work of Christ; let us go and reap it; for, if we
keep on regarding the winds and the clouds, we shall neither sow
nor reap. I think it is a great lesson to learn in spiritual
things, to believe in Christ, and his finished salvation, quite as
much as when you are down as when you are up; for Christ is not
more Christ on the top of the mountain than he is in the bottom of
the valley, and he is no less Christ in the storm by midnight than
he is in the sunshine by day. Do not begin to measure your safety
by your comfort; but measure it by the eternal Word of God, which
you have believed, and which you know to be true, and on which you
rest; for still here, within the little world of our bosom, "he
that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the
clouds shall not reap." We want to get out of that idea
altogether.
I have said enough to
prove the truth of my first observation, namely, that natural
difficulties may be unduly considered.
II. My second
observation is this: such consideration involves us
in
SEVERAL
SINS.
If we keep on observing
circumstances, instead of trusting God, we shall be guilty of disobedience. God bids me sow: 1 do
not sow, because the wind would blow some of my seed away. God
bids me reap: I do not reap, because there is a black cloud there,
and before I can house the harvest, some of it may be spoiled. I
may say what I like; but I am guilty of disobedience. I have not
done what I was bidden to do. I have made an excuse of the
weather; but I have been disobedient Dear friends, it is yours to
do what God bids you do, whether the heavens fall down or not;
and, if you knew they would fall, and you could prop them up by
disobedience, you have no right to do it. What may happen from our
doing right, we have nothing to do with; we are to do right, and
take the consequences cheerfully. Do you want obedience to be
always rewarded by a spoonful of sugar? Are you such a baby that
you will do nothing unless there shall be some little toy for you
directly after? A man in Christ Jesus will do right, though it
shall involve him in losses and crosses, slanders and rebukes;
yea, even martyrdom itself. May God help you so to do! He that
observeth the wind, and does not sow when he is bidden to cast his
seed upon the waters, is guilty of disobedience.
Next, we are guilty
also of unbelief, if we cannot sow because of the wind. Who
manages the wind? You distrust him who is Lord of the north, and
south, and east, and west. If you cannot reap because of a cloud,
you doubt him who makes the clouds, to whom the clouds are the
dust of his feet. Where is your faith? Where is your faith? "Ah!"
says one, "I can serve God when I am helped, when I am moved, when
I can see a hope of success." That is poor service, service devoid
of faith. May I not say of it, "Without faith it is impossible to
please God"? Just in proportion to the quantity of faith, that
there is in what we do, in that proportion will it be acceptable
with God. Observing of winds and clouds is unbelief. We may call
it prudence; but unbelief is its true name.
The next sin is really
rebellion. So you will not sow unless God chooses to make
the wind blow your way; and you will not reap unless God pleases
to drive the clouds away? I call that revolt, rebellion. An honest
subject loves the king in all weathers. The true servant serves
his master, let his master do what he wills. Oh, dear friends, we
are too often aiming at God's throne! We want to get up there, and
manage things, -
"Snatch from his
hand the balance and the rod, Rejudge his judgments, be the god of
God. "
Oh, if he would but
alter my circumstances! What is this but tempting God, as they did
in the wilderness, wishing him to do other than he does? It is
wishing him to do wrong; for what he does is always right; but we
must not so rebel, and vex his Holy Spirit, by complaining of what
he does. Do you not see that this is trying to throw the blame of
our shortcomings upon the Lord?
"If we do not sow, do
not blame us; God did not send the right wind. If we did not reap,
pray not to censure us; how could we be expected to reap, while
there were clouds in the skies?" What is this but a wicked
endeavour to blame God for our own neglect and wrong-doing, and to
make Divine Providence the pack-horse upon which we pile our sins?
God save us from such rebellion as that!
Another sin of which we
are guilty, when we are always looking at our circumstances, is
tius,foolishfear. Though we may think that there is no sin
in it, there is great sin hi foolish fear. God has commanded his
people not to fear; then we should obey him. There is a cloud; why
do you fear it? It will be gone directly; not a drop of rain may
fall out of it. You are afraid of the wind; why fear it? It may
never come. Even if it were some deadly wind that was approaching,
it might shift about, and not come near you. We are often fearing
what never happens. We feel a thousand deaths in fearing one. Many
a person has been afraid of what never would occur. It is a great
pity to whip yourselves with imaginary rods. Wait till the trouble
comes; else I shall have to tell you the story I have often
repeated of the mother whose child would cry. She told it not to
cry, but it would cry. "Well," she said, "if you will cry, I will
give you something to cry for." If you get fearing about nothing,
the probability is that you will get something really to fear, for
God does not love his people to be fools.
There are some who fall
into the sin of penuriousness. Observe, that Solomon was
here speaking of liberality. He that observeth the clouds and the
winds thinks "That is not a good object to help," and that he will
do harm if he gives here, or if he gives there. It
amounts to this, poor miser, you want to save your money! Oh, the
ways we have of making buttons with which to secure the safety of
our pockets! Some persons have a button manufactory always ready.
They have always a reason for not giving to anything that is
proposed to them, or to any poor person who asks their help. I
pray that every child of God here may avoid that sin.) "Freely ye
have received, freely give." And since you are stewards of a
generous Master, let it never be said that the most liberal of
Lords has the stingiest of stewards.
Another sin is clften
called idleness. The mail who does not sow because of the
wind, is usually too lazy to sow; and the man who does not reap
because of the clouds is the man who wants a little more sleep,
and a little more slumber, and a little more folding of the hands
to sleep. If we do not want to serve God, it is wonderful how many
reasons we can find. According to Solomon, the sluggard said there
was a lion in the streets. "There is a lion in the way," said he,
" a lion is in the streets." What a lie it was, for lions are as
much afraid of streets as men are of deserts! Lions do not come
into streets. It was idleness that
said the lion was there. You were asked to preach the other night,
and you could preach, but you said, no, you could not preach.
However, you attended a political meeting, did you not, and talked
twice as long as you would have done if you had preached? Another
friend, asked to teach in Sunday-school, said, "I have no gifts of
teaching." Somebody afterwards remarked of you that you had no
gifts of teaching, and you felt very vexed, and asked what right
had anyone to say that of you? I have heard persons run themselves
down, when they have been invited to any Christian work, as being
altogether disqualiGed; and when somebody has afterwards said,
"That is true, you cannot do anything, I know," they have looked
as if they would knock the speaker down. Oh, yes, yes, yes, we are
always making these excuses about winds and clouds, and there is
nothing in either of them. It is all meant to save our corn-seed,
and to save us the trouble of sowing it.
Do you not see, I have
made out a long list of sins wrapped up in this observing of winds
and clouds? If you have been guilty of any of them, repent of your
wrong-doing, and do not repeat it.
III. I will not keep
you longer over this part of the subject. I will now make a third
remark very briefly: let us prove that we have
not
FALLEN INTO THIS
EVIL.
How can we prove it?
Let us prove it, firstly by sowing in the most unlikely places.
What says Solomon? "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou
shalt find it after many days." Go, my brothers and sisters, and
find out the most unlikely people, and begin to work for God with
them. Now, try, if you can, to pick out the worst street in your
neighbourhood, and visit from house to house, and if there is a
man or woman more given up than another, make that person the
object of your prayers and of your holy endeavours. Cast your
bread upon the waters; then it will be seen that you are trusting
God, not trusting the soil, nor trusting the seed.
Next, prove it by
doing good to a great many. "Give a portion to seven, and also
to eight." Talk of Christ to everybody you meet with. If God has
not blessed you to one, try another; and if he has blessed you
with one, try two others; and if he has blessed you to two others,
try four others; and always keep on enlarging your seed-plot as
your harvest comes in. If you are doing much, it will be shown
that you are not regarding the winds and the clouds.
Further, prove that you
are not regarding winds and clouds by wisely learning from the
clouds another lesson than the one they seem made to teach.
Learn this lesson: "If the clouds be full of rain, they empty
themselves upon the earth;" and say to yourself, "If God has made
me full of grace, I will go and pour it
out to others. I know the joy of being saved, if I have had
fellowship with him, I will make a point of being more industrious
than ever, because God has been unusually gracious to me. My
fullness shall be helpful to others. I will empty myself for the
good of others, even as the clouds pour down the rain upon the
earth."
Then, beloved, prove it
still by not wanting to know how God will work. There is a
great mystery of birth, how the human soul comes to inhabit the
body of the child, and how the child is fashioned. Thou knowest
nothing about it, and thou canst not know. Therefore do not look
about thee to see what thou canst not understand, and pry into
what is concealed from thee. Go out and work; go out and preach;
go out and instruct others. Go out to seek to win souls. Thus
shall thou prove, in very truth, that thou art not dependent upon
surroundings and circumstances.
Again, dear friend,
prove this by consistent diligence. "In the morning sow thy
seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand." "Be instant in
season, out of season." I had a friend, who had learned the way to
put a peculiar meaning upon that passage of Scripture, "Let not
thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth." He thought that the
best way was to have money in both pockets; put one hand into each
pocket, and then put both hands on the collection plate. I never
objected to this interpretation of the passage. Now, the way to
serve Christ is to do all you possibly can, and then as much more.
"No," say you, "that cannot be." I do not know that it cannot be.
I found that the best thing I ever did was a thing I could not do.
What I could do well, that was my own; but what I could not do,
but still did, in the name and strength of the Eternal Jehovah,
was the best thing I had done. Beloved, sow in the morning, sow in
the evening, sow at night, sow all day long, for you can never
tell what God will bless; but by this constant sowing, you will
prove to demonstration that you are not observing the winds, nor
regarding the clouds.
IV. I now come tjo my
concluding observation: let us keep this evil
out
OF OUR HEARTS AS WELL
AS OUT OF OUR WORK.
And, first, let us]
give no heed to the winds and clouds of doctrine that are
everywhere about us now. Blow, blow, ye stormy winds; but you
shall not move me. Clouds of hypotheses and inventions, come up
with you, as many as you please, till you darken all the sky; but
I will not fear you. Such clouds have come before, and have
disappeared, and these will disappear, too. If you sit down, and
think of man's inventions of error, and their novel doctrines, and
how the churches have been bewitched by them, you will get into
such a state of mind that you will neither sow nor reap. Just
forget them. Give yourself to your
holy service as if there were no .winds and no clouds; and God
will give you such comfort in your soul that you will rejoice
before him, and be confident in his truth.
And then, next, let us not
lose hope because of doubts and temptations. When the clouds
and the winds get into your heart, when you do not feel as you
used to feel, when you have not that joy and elasticity of spirit
you once had, when your ardour seems a little dampened, and even
your faith begins to hesitate a little, go you to God all the
same. Trust him still.
"And when thine eye
of faith grows dim,
Still hold to Jesus,
sink or swim;
Still at his
footstool bow the knee,
And Israel s God thy
strength shall be. "
Do not go up and down
like the mercury in the weather-glass; but know what you know, and
believe what you believe. Hold to it, and God keep you in one
mind, so that none can turn you; for, if not, if you begin to
notice these things, you will neither sow nor reap.
Lastly, let us
follow the Lord's mind, come what will. In a word, set your
face, like a flint, to serve God, by the maintenance of his truth,
by your holy life, by the savour of your Christian character; and,
that being done, defy earth and hell. If there were a crowd of
devils between you and Christ, kick a lane through them by holy
faith. They will fly before you. If you have but the courage to
make an advance, they cannot stop you. You shall make a clear
gangway through legions of them. Only be strong, and of good
courage, and do not regard even the clouds from hell, or the
blasts from the infernal pit; but go straight on in the path of
right, and God being with you, you shall sow and you shall reap,
unto his eternal glory.
Will some poor sinner here
tonight, whether he sinks or swims, trust Christ? Come, if you
feel less inclined tonight to hope, than you ever did before. Have
hope even now; hope against hope; believe against belief. Cast
yourself on Christ, even though he may seem to stand with a drawn
sword in his hand, to run you through; trust even an angry Christ.
Though your sins have grieved him, come and trust him. Do not stop
for winds to blow over, or clouds to burst. Just as you are,
without one trace of anything that is good about thee, come and
trust Christ as thy Saviour, and thou art saved. God give you
grace to do so, for Jesus' sake! Amen.