“Just as you do not know how the path of the wind goes, nor how the bones of a fetus form in a mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.”
– Ecclesiastes 11:5
What a powerful verse with such imagery. Again, much like we saw in Ecclesiastes 10:1, this is different imagery. Like, “Do you know how the path of the wind goes?” What a picture. How can you chart the path of the wind? Obviously, we have meteorologists and other similar professions who monitor these things today and explain these things today, but just look outside and say, “Okay, this is the path of the wind.” Not just what direction it’s going in, but exactly how it moves and what way it moves. Or, “How the bones of a fetus form in a mother’s womb,” do you know how that works?
Ecclesiastes 11:5 Reminds Us God Forms Children in the Womb
I mean, obviously, we have scientific advancements that have helped us understand this, how God forms a child in a womb, how within two weeks, a human heart is beating and circulating its own blood. And within a few more weeks, there are fingers forming on hands and brainwaves detectable. Within six weeks, these inward parts are moving. And within a couple weeks after that, there’s discernible fingerprints, and discernible sexuality, and kidneys are forming and functioning. Then a gallbladder.
By 12 weeks, all the organs of a baby’s body are functional, and the baby can cry. All of that within three months. God forms the heart, organs, brain, sexuality, movement, reaction. God doing all of those things. His ways are mysterious and wonderful, which is a good reminder for us, when you look around us in the world, that we don’t understand all the work that God is doing at any given moment.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 Shows Us God’s Wisdom
And this is a good word for us, especially when we’re walking through hard times, isn’t it? Especially when we’re walking through trials and we’re wondering why, and we’re wondering, “God, what are you doing?” It’s good to remember that God is doing far more than we can see, far more than we realize, or even could understand, that the God who makes everything, Ecclesiastes 11:5, is working in ways that are good, and wise, and will ultimately lead to justice and mercy for all who trusts in Him.
So we pray. God help us to trust you. God, I pray this for every single person, especially who’s walking through some kind of trial or difficulty right now, that they would trust, that we would trust, that you are working in ways we don’t see, in ways that according to your promise are good for those who love you and who are called according to your purpose.
Praising God for His Work
And so, we praise you God for your mysterious ways. We praise you for how you know the path of the wind, and you direct the path of the wind, how the wind follows your bidding, how, when it blows, it’s doing so at your direction.
We praise you for how a fetus is formed in a mother’s womb, how you wonderfully, and beautifully, and fearfully make children. God, even as we pray in light of that imagery, we pray that you would bring an end to the evil of abortion in the world around us and the country where I live. God, that children in the womb who you are forming would be able to live and thrive made in your image. You’d help us to work on their behalf. And on behalf of the precious women who are carrying them and men alongside them, or even men who abandoned them. God, we know that there’s so much work to do in making abortion unthinkable in our country.
Praying God Would Change Hearts
God, we pray that you would bring about change of hearts, and God that you would help us as your church to step in and serve and love moms and dads with unwanted pregnancies. God, all of this in light of your mysterious work in a mother’s womb that we praise you for.
Oh God, you make everything. You are sovereign over everything. And we say today, we trust in you, and we pray that you would lead us, you would guide us, you would direct us in ways that are good for us, in ways that are good for others, and ultimately, in ways that are glorifying to you as the Almighty, all loving, all good, all wise, God who makes everything. We pray this according to your word in Ecclesiastes 11:5. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
