Casting Bread

UV 1231/10,000 Casting Bread

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

Ecclesiastes 11 v 1

The book of Ecclesiastes speaks of all the efforts of man being a chasing of the wind or a vanity. Yet it describes something that seems apparently fruitless like casting our bread upon the waters as useful and rewarding. We need to sow in the water or in an area of need to satisfy someone’s need without any expectation of a return or a harvest. In other words, we need to give of our own harvest or income and the Lord will ensure that in our hour of need, we will find help. We need to give without motives or without any selfish consideration and that it will return to us manifold is a certainty. Our reward or help will not come from the very person whom we gave to but it will come from unlikely quarters, sources and in surprising ways. Casting " bread" implies that what we give is something that we can ourselves use or need and that it is not something excess or superfluous that we can do without. When we give we ought not to give casually or carelessly but after doing due diligence.


Scripture says that when we give to the poor, we are actually lending to the Lord. The Lord is not poor being the sovereign owner of all that exists in the entire earth, universe and heaven. He is also no man’s debtor. He will reward our acts of charity and kindness in a variety of ways. Even if we give a glass of water in the name of the Lord to quench the thirst of a fellow believer, He will reward us. When we give, our left hand should not know what our right hand has given in the sense that we do not make a show of it or publicise it. If we make a show of it then it would be deemed that we have already been rewarded in the eyes of men.

The word “ bread” however does not mean something material like food or money for it could also mean the Word of God which is the bread that satisfies the hunger and thirst for eternal life, peace and joy in all mankind. When we keep sharing the Word in a variety of ways in our daily lives, it might initially seem that it is like water off the duck’s back and that no one cares or is listening or that it is not making a difference in people’s lives the way you would like it to be. But over time we will get feedback of how our sharing had impacted lives and strengthened people in their hour of need. The Lord will remember and send us also His Word and His deliverance in our own hour of need. God does keep an account of what we give.


Prateep V Philip