Life is Complex || Ecclesiastes 11:5 || Manna for the Mind #55

Welcome to Day 55 of the “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series is about taking scripture passages (typically 1-3 verses) and building our understanding of their teachings through their context and connecting scripture. I believe that doing this helps us understand how to be the type of human that God created us to be.

Today’s passage is Ecclesiastes 11:5 and comes with a trigger warning. Well, not the verse, but the subject matter this section will bring. We will be talking about scripture that people use in their stances about abortion. The notes I have come from my study Bible, which will be used to connect back to the scripture passages. After that, you will hear about my stance and how I look at these passages. I am not here to convince you to be pro-choice or pro-life. I will share my interpretation of these passages and my knowledge of these topics. Before I share our focus passage, I want you to take a deep breath. Open your mind to hear a possible new perspective. Let’s get into it.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

5            Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.

We may never truly understand why the wind blows in specific ways or the developmental process of a baby growing in its mother’s womb. We cannot understand the activity of God. Our ways are lower than his ways. Our thoughts are lesser than his thoughts. The concept with this focus verse isn’t about abortion but understanding God’s nature, process, and thought patterns. It’s good to ensure we’re reading all the sentences and sentences surrounding the context of these passages. “But Marc, you didn’t do that.” I’m aware of that. However, with this being a complete thought, I didn’t plan on doing it. Yet, let’s do that to teach you good study habits.

The section of Ecclesiastes 11 is about the uncertainties of life. It covers verses 1 through 6.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

1            Send your grain across the seas, and in time, profits will flow back to you.

2            But divide your investments among many places, for you do not know what risks might lie ahead.

3            When clouds are heavy, the rains come down. Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls.

4            Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.

5            Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.

6            Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another – or maybe both.

Nowhere in the entirety of our passage does it talk about or refer to the concepts or practices of abortion. It’s easy to take one verse and force a religious or personal belief onto it. Still, it’s wise to take the verse in its entire context to ensure that’s genuinely what the author, Solomon, is saying. Solomon refers to the complexity of the process from conception to birth and compares it to the activity of God. God’s ways are complex; we can never fully comprehend them. We are to have faith and trust that God will use these processes for good and the benefit of his children.

Psalm 139:13-16

13          You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14          Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it.

15          You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16          You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day has passed.

This is where we will get to the heart of our abortion conversation. My study bible believes that David would be shocked with the ease of how the unborn are killed in today’s culture. They also believe that we are becoming numb to the reality of accepting these practices through both political and social teachings and principles. According to them, “David shows God’s love for the unborn and their mothers and fathers.” This is a direct quote from them referring to the passage listed above. They encourage the reader to pray and protect these lives because they are the most vulnerable and don’t have a voice to defend or care for themselves.

Here’s where my own thoughts will come in. I do see the perspective of the fetus being one of the more vulnerable populations; however, when it comes to the biblical understanding of “the least of these (found in Matthew 25:40),” there’s no mention of the unborn. Jesus is referring to the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, the sick, and the incarcerated. Now, there could be a connection between the unborn and the naked. However, Jesus lists specifically these people. The people who are already on earth and need our help. There are plenty of pregnant mothers who need help also, and whether that’s coming to the entire pregnancy or coming to the harsh realities of needing an abortion is between them and God. We aim to serve people in need, not cast judgment upon them.

Returning to our Psalm 139 passage, let’s gain some context for what’s being said here. The theme of this psalm, written by David, is to share the power and intimacy of our all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful, and always-present heavenly Father and Savior. I have done a sermon of the entire Psalm before, so I know what this represents. The first section, verses 1-6, refers to God knowing everything about David and his heart and how that knowledge overwhelms him. The following section, verses 7-12, refers to God always being present for him and never leaving him. The following section is verses 13-16, and they describe how God’s character goes into every person. Verses 17-18 talk about the thoughts God has about him. Verse 19-22 refers to David’s plea to remove the wicked, the blasphemers, the enemies of God, and the argument about whether David should hate those people who go against God. Psalm 139 closes with a powerful prayer about God searching his heart, knowing the anxiety within him, asking for the removal of the things that go against God, and guiding him on the path to everlasting life.

NOT A SINGLE PART OF THAT PSALM REFERS TO THE CONCEPTS OR PRINCIPLES SURROUNDING ABORTION. We again see Christians and religious leaders use this passage to take a chunk of scripture out of its original context. With some research I did about the “pros/cons” scriptures used, not even one of them refers to abortion in the Bible. Some people have said it came from pagan practices, but I haven’t seen a consensus. My perspective of it is that it is up to the person looking to get an abortion. What a woman does with their life is up to them. I am not here to judge them for doing what they’ve determined is right for them. I am there to love them through the process and leave the judgment up to God. I am here to listen to their concerns and grief. I am there to help them out in their recovery.

That is where our discussion on abortion will end. The rest of our devotional today will focus on the complexity of understanding God’s mindset.

Ecclesiastes 1:15

15          What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered.

This statement from Solomon is about the ultimate perplexity and confusion that comes to us because of life’s unanswered questions. Solomon discovered that neither his accomplishment nor wisdom could make him truly happy. We can find our true wisdom in God and happiness in serving him. I’ve often seen that I learn more about teaching the Bible than I have from doing my self-created studies. I learned more about God by teaching his people who he is and what he represents. We often learn about God through what we can do serving him than what we can do reading about him.

John 3:8

8            The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.

Jesus is saying that we cannot control the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in ways we cannot predict or understand. Just like you couldn’t control your own physical birth, you cannot control your spiritual one either. It’s a gift. It’s hard not being in control of it. If we were, though, we’d lose out on the importance of our faith and trust in God. We wouldn’t need to lean on God because we’d have control of what we see and don’t see. That’s not how our relationship with God works. That’s not how Jesus did it, either. Jesus listened to God’s command and followed through, not doing things on his own but how God needed him to execute them. Jesus might not have understood it, but he knew who was guiding him and who he trusted. Who do you trust?

Father God, we thank you for the conversations this devotional brought. We try so hard to understand what your Word teaches us and often get it wrong. Give us the wisdom to understand it fully and lead us in the ways you need us to go to share these teachings with the world. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.