Your Work is Your Ministry

Worldly work or Kingdom it can all honor God

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"As you do not know how the spirit comes in to the bones in a pregnant woman's belly, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything." (Ecclesiastes 11:5, ESV).

At first, it looks like the verse just points out human ignorance. But underneath, it holds deep ideas about human understanding limits and the God's creating power.

Think for a moment about the picture—of a unborn baby, the spirit arriving to the bones inside the hidden place of the belly. The moment life begins developing is covered in a mystery. Just as nobody can fully understand how the spirit, enters to the bones of a growing baby, we are limited in our ability to understand the work of God, the one who make everything, visible or not.

The Nature of God’s Work: Unknowable and Unfathomable

This section give entrance to a main topic in Ecclesiastes: the unknowable goals of God. All through the book, the Writer (Ecclesiastes's author) talks of human knowledge's limits.

In Ecclesiastes 3:11, we hear: "He has made everything beautiful in its right time. Also, He put eternity in man's heart, yet no man finds out what God has done from start to end."

The paradox is amazing—God has marked a sense of eternity in us, a wanting to understand divine and eternal things. But, our minds cannot grasp God's full plans and actions.

This is where it helps to remember that our worldly troubles are maybe important to us in the moments but ultimately it all fades away. Try putting those cares on God and understand we are in this world but not of this world. (It only matters for a brief time)

The words "you do not know" in Ecclesiastes 11:5 is a clear reminder of our limits.

We may try, like humans often do, to explain, control, and guess movements of the divine. There remains oceans of mystery that defy human reasoning.

Like God says in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your methods my methods, says the Lord. Just as heavens are above the earth, my methods are higher than yours and my plans than yours."

In meaning, the verse is asking to accept the wide gap between God's wisdom and human knowledge.

The Spirit in the Womb: A Metaphor for Life’s Mysteries

The metaphor of spirit arriving in the bones is strong, both with spiritual and biological sides. In creating of human life, we face a mystery that pass science and understanding. We know biology ways—how egg meets sperm, cells divide, and a heartbeats—but life itself remains a mystery.

As we can't pinpoint the moment when spirit gets into the unborn baby, we can't discover the exact time when divine spark starts in the world. God's work is something out of our reach, like seeds of life planted deep in earth, unseen. Think about Psalm 139:13-16, where David praises God's close knowledge of his creation: "For you made my insides; you knit me in my mother's womb. I thank you, for I am wonderfully made... My body's frame is not hidden from you, when made secret, woven deep in earth." Life's creating, all hidden details, is divine skill, unfathomable to us.

This is our call to humility. How often do people run to explain everything? Forgetting some things should stay mystery? How often do we hurry to explain, dissect, control, when quiet awe is better? Ecclesiastes 11:5 dares us to recognize our limits and admit we're not in charge of cosmos, nor life's mysteries.

Trusting the Unseen Work of God

God's actions are at heart a mystery. Yet, it's not confusion—it’s purpose-filled, beautiful wonder. Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 reminds "For each thing there is a season, and a time for all matter under the sky: a time to be born, a time to die." This is the book's larger theme, showing us that, while we can't understand God's whole plan, we're asked to trust His timing and authority. Life moves in divine pace, one unseen by us, directed by the wise loving creator.

What does this trust look like? It looks like letting go the need for control and prediction.

It looks like seeing that explanation isn't always needed for belief. It looks like faith when facing the unknown, understanding God works in ways we don't grasp, ultimately for our best.

In the New Testament, we see examples of this trust in Jesus’ lessons. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells us not to worry about life, to trust God provides: "But seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, all other things will be added to you." This trust isn't in our understanding, but in God's care and guidance under his wisdom.

This is where we want to understand that what we do on the Earth can and should Glorify God . I used to struggle with this in my worldly Job or business (I own a digital marketing company currently) I would think why am I even doing this? It helps people yes but only on the earth and has no significance in eternity.

You want to realize through prayer that God has given you certain talents and a way to use them. Some of us directly work for the kingdom and most indirectly but the work is important. We do not know how God is going to use us and for me my business allows me freedom to write these articles, tithe in ways I couldn’t before, and those are things I did not see before hand.

The Paradox of Knowledge and Mystery

Ecclesiastes 11:5 offers us a paradox: the more we try to understand life’s details and God’s ways, the more we see how little we know. But this paradox isn't meant to discourage; it's meant for wonder, trust, humility. God's work is like spirit in our bones—a mystery beyond our understanding but creates awe and joy.

In the end, Ecclesiastes shows that life, all complicated, isn't a puzzle to solve, but a mystery to live. We’re asked to not solve, but dwell in it, trusting God, who creates all, is doing good things—even when we can’t see full picture.

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