Cast your bread upon the waters, measured risk, abundant waters, prospers (Ecclesiastes 11:1, Luke 6:38, Isaiah 32:20, Psalm 1:2-3)

We have an event this week for SALT to meet with Kingdom Advisors. These ideas remind me of Journey of Generosity

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

In ancient trade, merchants sent grain shipments (“bread”) overseas, hoping they’d return with profit “after many days.”

So, the verse can be read as: Take wise risks, invest, share, or act with vision because doing nothing guarantees no return.

• Principle: Do good and take initiative even when the payoff isn’t immediate.

It calls for faithful generosity. Like sowing seed on unpredictable waters, it suggests giving freely trusting that God will return the blessing in His time, not necessarily in a way or season you can predict.

• Principle: Trust God’s timing and multiply good without demanding control of outcomes.
• Parallel verse: “Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” —2 Cor 9:6

Keep releasing value—ideas, kindness, resources—into uncertain waters (people, projects, causes). Over time, the world reflects that investment back to you multiplied.

It’s an antidote to fear-based inaction.

Leaders who “cast their bread” model trust, stewardship, and abundance thinking rather than scarcity or control.

Matthew 6:19-21: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. / But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. / For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

• 1 Timothy 6:17-19: Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy. / Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share, / treasuring up for themselves a firm foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
• Proverbs 19:17: Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.
• Matthew 19:21: Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
• James 2:5: Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
• Proverbs 11:4: Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.

2 Corinthians 9:6-9: Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. / Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. / And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ...

Galatians 6:9-10: Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. / Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.

• Matthew 25:34-40: Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. / For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, / I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’ 

Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. / Divide your portion among seven, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may befall the land. Ecclesiastes 11:1-2

• Luke 6:38: Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
• Isaiah 32:20: Blessed are those who sow beside abundant waters, who let the ox and donkey range freely.
• Psalm 1:2-3: whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers.

• 2 Corinthians 9:6-7: Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. / Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.
• Galatians 6:9-10: Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. / Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.

Where your treasure is, their heart will be also

He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly. / One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” / Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God. Acts 10:2-4

• Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him. Proverbs 14:31
• If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him? / Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth. 1 John 3:17-18
• And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42

Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke? / Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? / Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard Isaiah 58:6-8