“Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days” (Ecclesiastes 11:1, NKJV). This verse pictures an act that looks, on the surface, like a loss. Bread thrown onto water seems wasted, not invested.
And yet the promise attached is patient rather than immediate: you will find it after many days. Not today, not necessarily this week, but eventually.
This is a good word for generosity that doesn’t seem to pay off right away. Some investments, kindness, generosity, faithful work, take longer than we’d like to show a visible return.
Is there a generous act you’ve held back on because the return wasn’t guaranteed or immediate? This verse suggests casting it anyway.