Ecclesiastes 11:1-3

Keep on casting

Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. ~ Ecclesiastes 11:1

Life can sometimes feel like we’re giving and giving with no sign of return. We pour out love, kindness, resources, prayers, and encouragement, and wonder if it’s making a difference. But today’s scripture reading reminds us to keep casting, to keep sowing good things even when we don’t immediately see results. God is faithful, and what you release in faith today can become tomorrow’s harvest.

Casting your bread upon the waters speaks of generosity, obedience, and trust. In biblical times, this phrase referred to sending out grain on trading ships, uncertain of what would return, but believing that something would. It’s a picture of faith in motion, of doing good, giving generously, and trusting God with the outcome.

Below are some ways that you can put this practice into action:

1. Give without waiting for recognition – Whether it’s a helping hand, a financial seed, or an encouraging word, don’t wait for the to be asked or recognized. Just give.
2. Be consistent in doing good – Keep showing up, keep loving, keep praying, even when it feels unnoticed. Faithfulness over time leads to fruitfulness.
3. Don’t try to control the outcome – It’s not your job to track how the blessing returns. Just trust that God sees and rewards even the unseen acts of obedience (Matthew 6:4).
4. Invest in others generously – Share your wisdom, time, and resources freely. You never know how your simple act of obedience today might impact someone’s eternity.
5. Prepare for uncertain seasons – Verse 3 reminds us that life has its storms. By continually casting seeds of faith and kindness, we prepare a harvest that will sustain us through hard times.

Take these steps today to get started:

• Pick one way to “cast” today.
• Write a note of encouragement, give a small gift, offer prayer, or speak life over someone.
• Don’t overthink it, just obey the prompting and remember: the reward might not come back immediately, but it will come back.
• Keep a journal of what you’re sowing because it will help you see God’s faithfulness over time.

Today I want to encourage you to keep on casting. Don’t grow weary in doing good. The seeds you sow in faith will return often, when you least expect it, in ways that only God could orchestrate. Your obedience matters. Your generosity matters. And your daily decision to trust God with the results matters. So, keep showing up. Keep pouring out. Keep casting your bread upon the waters. Because in God’s perfect time, what you’ve released will come back, not just as bread, but as multiplied blessings.. 

Today’s scripture reading: Ecclesiastes 11:1-3

1 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

2 Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth.

3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; And if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.