Waiting for everything to line up before you move? Ecclesiastes 11 cuts through the hesitation with a wise and freeing tension: plan with care, act with courage, and trust the God who works beyond what we can see. We walk through Solomon’s vivid images—merchants sending cargo, farmers sowing under uncertain skies, and the mystery of life in the womb—to show how real faith engages a risky world without demanding guarantees. Along the way, we share practical rhythms for diversifying your efforts, starting earlier, finishing stronger, and making peace with outcomes you cannot control.
We also lean into joy—not as a smile pasted over hardship, but as a steady practice that honors the gift of another sunrise. Light is sweet, Solomon says, and it’s sweeter still when we remember the dark days without letting them dim today’s work. You’ll hear how “you do not know” becomes a liberating refrain: it removes the burden to predict and replaces it with a call to sow widely, serve faithfully, give generously, and leave results with God. Expect stories that surprise, including a moment when a tossed New Testament still found its mark and changed a life.
If you’re stuck waiting for perfect conditions, this conversation offers a path forward. You’ll get clear steps to act wisely under uncertainty, encouragement to keep casting seed when returns seem slow, and a hopeful vision for building a life that is diligent, courageous, and joyful. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a nudge to start, and leave a review to tell us the one step you’re ready to take today.
Stephen's latest book, The Disciples Prayer, is available now. https://www.wisdomonline.org/store/view/the-disciples-prayer-hardback
Episode Transcript
The Eliminator is to live you you wouldn't learn how
to walk.
You wouldn't learn how to drivea car.
You wouldn't get married.
Solomon is essentially sayingdon't sit around and watch the
clouds.
In other words, don't wait forthe perfect conditions in life
before taking a well-focusedstep.
(00:26):
By the way, again, that goes forministry.
You might take that class orteach that study or step out and
it's uncomfortable for you.
And well, if you're waiting forthe perfect conditions, you'll
never take that next step offaith.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Have you ever been hesitant to proceed?
Because you were waiting for theconditions to be absolutely
perfect?
Perhaps you were uncomfortablebecause there was a little bit
of uncertainty.
So you hesitated, or maybedidn't act at all.
I wonder how much we miss out onbecause of this.
(01:13):
There are many things in lifethat we can't predict, but we
shouldn't let the unexpectedevents of life paralyze us with
fear.
Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart.
Stephen Davy is working througha series from Ecclesiastes
called Pursuing Wisdom Under theSun.
(01:34):
Today we'll be challenged tolive boldly with this message
called Living with theUnexplainable and Unexpected.
SPEAKER_00 (02:00):
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Prepare for the worst, but workfor the best.
Don't put off until tomorrowwhat you can do.
That was my mother's favoritetheme when I was growing up.
When opportunity knocks, answerthe door.
(02:23):
Don't put all your eggs into onebasket.
Now these axioms are actuallyfound all around the world in
one form or another.
Little different phraseology,different languages.
And it's around the worldbecause these are sort of
self-evident truths that emanatefrom the God of truth who
(02:45):
originates all wisdom.
Even the world knows whenthey're hearing something that's
true.
And all the axioms that I rattleoff show up in some manner, some
phraseology in Scripture.
In fact, several of them aregoing to show up in the private
journal of the wisest man whoever lived.
(03:05):
So let's go back to that, thebook of Ecclesiastes, and pick
our study back up.
Now we're in chapter 11.
We don't have many studies left.
Three or four, we'll finish thebook, four or five, twenty,
twenty-five, I don't know, butwe'll keep going.
I want to cover the first eightverses of chapter 11 in our
study today.
(03:26):
Now, if you're new to our studythrough this journal of Solomon,
he has written about life downhere under the sun, and he began
the first seven chapters withthis sort of despairing
perspective of if this is allyou see, this is you never look
(03:46):
above the sun, it's going to beunfulfilling, it's not going to
be satisfying.
And then he shifts near aboutthe three-quarter mark in his
journal, and he draws God intothe picture.
Not that he was ignoring thembefore, but he was giving us the
contrast.
Now he draws God into thepicture, and he's giving us this
(04:06):
new perspective about life downhere under the sun as we walk
with the sun, as it were, theson of God.
Now, this new perspective oflife as he's delivering it in
this journal, which he assumeshis son will read.
Most Old Testament scholarsbelieve it's for his son as
well.
(04:27):
Solomon tells us that evendrawing God into the picture
doesn't answer all yourquestions.
It doesn't button everythingdown.
And here in chapter 11, he'sgoing to begin that way.
He's going to admit there arethings in life he he doesn't
understand.
In fact, he repeats a phrasefour times in the opening verses
(04:53):
here.
If you have a Bible open, youmight draw a circle around the
phrase in verse 2, for you knownot.
You don't know.
You could draw a line, as I'vedone to the first part of verse
5, where it appears again, youdo not know.
And then again, at the bottom ofthe verse, the latter part of
verse 5, you do not know.
(05:15):
And then once again in verse 6,you do not know.
So four times he's going to tellus there are things we do not
know in our lives.
We haven't figured them out.
But instead of ending thediscussion by saying, well,
because we don't knoweverything, let's go ahead and
(05:37):
throw in the towel and quit andjust kind of cry in our soup.
What he's going to do, though,is lead us to the conclusion,
let's roll up our sleeves andrejoice.
And we'll get there eventuallyin our study today.
It's possible to go through lifethen without having everything
(05:58):
figured out and at the same timehave joy.
Now, for our study, let medivide these eight verses into
two categories.
We'll call the first categorythe unexpected events of life.
Solomon's going to encourage usto not let them paralyze us with
fear.
(06:19):
Look at verse 1.
Cast your bread upon the waters,for you will find it after many
days.
Give a portion to seven or eveneight.
That's a Hebrew euphemism for anindefinite amount.
An indefinite number.
For you know not what disastermay happen on earth.
(06:41):
Let me paraphrase this to read.
You can't begin to anticipateall of the unpredictable,
unexpected events in life.
The phrase, and you've heard itbefore, cast your bread upon the
waters.
That means just do the rightthing.
You don't know what's going tohappen.
In fact, I had somebody wastalking, somebody was talking to
(07:02):
me just a few weeks ago, notreferencing our study in
Ecclesiastes, who said, youknow, I like to think in life
this way, cast your bread uponthe waters and then get ready to
make sandwiches.
You never know when it's goingto come back.
I thought that was veryinteresting.
So stay at it.
Now, this expression here, castyour bread upon the waters, for
(07:24):
you'll find it, give a portionof seven or eight, is broad
enough to incorporate a numberof contexts, and frankly, Old
Testament scholars don't knowwhich context specifically
Solomon has in mind, althoughthey all point to the same
principle of sowing and reaping.
It's possible, some havesuggested that Solomon is
(07:44):
thinking of financialinvestments.
Seems to make sense, certainly.
Verse 2, give a portion to sevenor eight.
In other words, diversify yourinvestments.
In other words, don't put allyour eggs into one basket.
There it is.
It's wise advice.
He might have been, otherssuggest, referring to his fleet
(08:06):
of ships.
You can read about it in theKings and Chronicles about how
his ships would go out carryinggrain and come back with all
sorts of merchandise.
He's essentially saying, don'tput all of it on one ship.
It'd be better to put your cargointo seven or eight.
So that if some disasterbefalls, some storm rises,
(08:28):
everything won't be lost.
You can't predict the results ofyour investments.
So plan.
And then leave it to God.
And we'll get there in a momentas Solomon spells it out that we
trust God with the results.
I love the way Hudson Taylor,missionary statesman in China,
(08:51):
would say it.
He would say it this way (08:52):
look after things.
That is, plan, look afterthings, and then the
responsibility rests with God.
That's good.
Don't allow the unexpectedevents of life to paralyze you
with fear.
Now Solomon changes theillustration from the world of
(09:15):
the merchant to the world of thefarmer.
He says here, you'll notice inverse 3 if the clouds are full
of rain, they empty themselveson the earth.
If a tree falls to the south orto the north, in the place where
the tree falls, there it willlie.
(09:36):
The point that Solomon is makingis that no one can control when
the rain's gonna fall.
Looks like the clouds are comingin.
Usually it does rain when theycome in like it's doing today,
but maybe not.
Maybe they'll blow over and droptheir rain somewhere else.
We don't know when that tree isgonna fall and in what
direction.
So should we plant trees?
(09:58):
I don't know, they could fall.
Notice verse 4 he who observesthe wind will not sow.
In other words, if you'rewatching a wind, you'll never
sow that seed.
And he who regards the cloudswill not reap.
(10:20):
The wind might spring up andblow away the seed you've just
thrown out on your field.
Or maybe those clouds will trickyou and you'll end up harvesting
prematurely, or maybe you'llmiss the peak of harvest.
You're essentially watching thewind and the clouds.
(10:43):
Solomon is describing here aperson who's become so paralyzed
by fear because they can'tguarantee success.
They're sitting around andthey're waiting for the ideal
circumstances, they're waitingfor life to smooth out, they're
waiting for the perfectcircumstances to all line up
before they take that stepforward.
(11:03):
Opportunity is knocking on thedoor, so to speak, but they're
not gonna answer it because badthings might happen.
And bad things might.
So what's Solomon saying here?
Don't get out of bed, don'tplant trees, don't sow seed,
don't send out chips, don'tinvest.
(11:24):
No, plan.
And then do it.
It's impossible to eliminate allthe risks in life.
Nothing ventured, nothing again.
You know, if you waited for allthe risks to be gone, you you
(11:46):
would have never learned how toride a bike.
You know, this past uh month, uhtwo of our grandchildren, you
know, sent Papa and Gigi a videobecause they learned how to ride
a bike.
And they we had to see thevideo.
I mean, they probably wantmoney, but at any rate, we they
(12:09):
sent us the video.
And we celebrated with thembecause they learned to ride the
bike.
How many times do they fall?
Yeah, you can't eliminate therisk.
I mean, if you eliminate therisk in life, you you won't you
wouldn't learn how to walk.
You'd you'd try, fall down.
Well, that does that.
You wouldn't learn how to drivea car.
(12:32):
Uh you wouldn't get married, youwouldn't have a child, you
wouldn't start a business or aministry.
Solomon is essentially sayingdon't sit around and watch the
clouds.
In other words, don't wait forthe perfect conditions in life
before taking awell-thought-through step, that
(12:54):
next step in life.
And by the way, again, that goesfor ministry.
You might take that class orteach that study or step out and
uh it's uncomfortable for you,and and and should should you do
it?
Well, well, if you're waitingfor the perfect conditions in
life, you'll never take thatnext step of faith in life.
(13:16):
I like Eugene Peterson'sparaphrase of this text, it
interprets it well.
He says it this way don't sitthere watching the wind.
Do your own work, don't stare atthe clouds.
Get on with your life.
Plan.
And then leave God.
(13:38):
The responsibility of theresult.
The second category of hisinspired advice here we'll call
the unexplainable works of God.
And his key point is basicallythis don't let these
unexplainable works of God robyou of joy.
Notice verse 5.
And you do not know the way theSpirit comes to the bones in the
(14:00):
womb of a woman with child.
So you do not know the work ofGod who makes everything.
The word for bones here is usedin other passages for the
embryo, the developing lifewhich God is knitting, weaving,
David says, uh, together in thewomb.
(14:23):
You don't know what's going onin the womb.
Now we've come a long way sinceSolomon, certainly, in
understanding a lot of whattakes place in the womb.
I can remember, we got to goback a you know a few decades
now, but I can remember going inwith Marcia and having that
(14:44):
ultrasound, and for us, thatmeant a piece of paper, and it
was all black with some whitefuzzy dots on it, and we took
their word that was a baby, butyou really couldn't make it out.
And now, though, oh my goodness,3D, you know, digital, you you
can you can tell everything uhabout that that baby, it's
amazing.
I would have loved to have had a3D ultrasound, digital
(15:07):
ultrasound.
When we went in that oneafternoon, and for that
ultrasound, and the nurse looksat Marcia and says, Well, what
do you know?
There are two of them in there.
And Marcia began to cry and Ibegan to laugh, which is what we
do when we're really nervous.
That's how we respond.
(15:27):
As advanced as we are today, westill don't know how.
(16:23):
You want to talk about how muchyou figured out in life?
Well, let's just go back to thewomb.
In a sense, from the womb to thetomb, we would call it, our
lives are filled with themysteries of God's hand.
We just can't explain everythingthat God does from the womb to
(16:46):
the tomb.
Don't let that fact, however,that some things are
unexplainable rob you of trustin Him.
If it robs you of trust in Him,it robs you of joy in Him and in
life.
Solomon goes on to illustratethis in your job or your work,
verse 6.
(17:06):
Notice there, in the morning,sow your seed.
Roll up your sleeves and getgoing.
And at the evening, withhold notyour hand.
That's a euphemism in the Hebrewlanguage for you're working all
day long.
Go for it.
You do not know.
You do not know which willprosper, this or that.
(17:27):
Or whether both alike will begood.
Wouldn't that be great if bothof those ventures turned a
profit?
You don't know if God willprosper your work this year.
There's not a farmer on theplanet that knows if it's going
to be a good crop.
Plan well.
(17:48):
You don't know if the herd willmultiply as you would hope, but
you do everything you can.
But you plant your field.
You go after that work withexcellence, wherever God has
placed you.
And there's more to this.
He's drawing us into essentiallyenjoy the opportunity to work
(18:15):
and to invest.
So get to it.
Don't put off until tomorrow.
What you need to do today.
Can we explain everything that'shappening?
No.
Can we predict what will happenin life?
No.
But did a new day dawn?
(18:36):
Yes.
Enjoy it.
This is where Solomon is leadingus.
Look at verse 7.
Light is sweet.
Light referring to a new day,the dawning of a day.
It's sweet.
It's pleasant for the eyes tosee the sun.
In other words, are you going toenjoy the fact that you get to
(18:58):
experience yet another day?
Now he's realistic, as we'll seein a moment.
It isn't a plastic smile, and itisn't, oh, everything's gonna be
great today.
No, but but it is a new day.
It's a new day.
This is the day, say it with me,the Lord has made, we will
rejoice and be glad in it.
(19:19):
That word sweet, by the way.
Light is sweet.
A new day is sweet.
That word appears often in theOld Testament.
It appears in describing thetaste of honey in Judges 14.
It's used to describe the thrillof a kiss in the Song of
(19:40):
Solomon, chapter 2.
It's used to describe thenourishing, satisfying enjoyment
of God's word.
It's like honey.
Psalm 19.
So enjoy what you can in life.
Notice what he says next inverse 8.
So if a person lives many years,let him rejoice in them.
(20:01):
But let him remember that thedays of darkness will be many.
All that comes is vanity.
That word vanity is expansive.
In this case, it means it'sfleeting.
Those days are flying by, flyingby.
And in your fast life, you lookback over your shoulder and what
(20:23):
do you see?
Days of darkness, days ofdifficulty, days of trial and
suffering and sorrow.
It's evidently okay to rememberthem because Solomon says,
remember them.
Remember them and learn fromthem.
Trust God through them.
But he also asks in verse 8,what else do you see?
Well, days, events, uh moments,conversations, relationships,
(20:48):
accomplishments over which youcan rejoice.
Solomon is saying, Enjoy therising of the sun, and another
day you get to live, savor it,share it, make the most of it,
which is another way of saying,Opportunity is knocking, that
(21:09):
is, a new day is knocking, goanswer the door.
The Apostle Paul says it thisway in the New Testament: making
the best use of time because thedays are evil.
Ephesians 5.16.
He doesn't say make the best useof time before the days get evil
(21:32):
or after the days are no longerevil.
No, make the best use of time inspite of the fact that they can
be dark and difficult, and evilcan surround us.
Stay at it, do the right thing,roll up your sleeves, plan, and
(21:54):
go answer the door.
It is tempting, and we allwrestle with this.
If what we're doing matters, wepray for a friend or a family
member and wonder if the prayerwill be answered in the way we
(22:15):
pray it.
We give money to the Lord'swork, to the poor, to those in
need, and wonder if anybody'slife is going to be changed.
We witness to friends andclassmates and co-workers and
(22:38):
wondered times when no one seemsto believe and be saved.
We could go back to the openingstatement, which sets the scene
for this passage, keep castingthe seed.
And I like to think of it in theanalogy of the bread of life.
(23:01):
Keep doing it.
Keep doing the right thing.
In that world and in the trafficpatterns where God has placed
you.
Keep casting.
Keep serving.
Keep walking with Christ.
And you never know what God willdo.
(23:30):
I'm currently reading a bookgiven to me by one of the men in
our church.
He serves with GittigansInternational.
Amazing ministry I've gotten toknow in the last few years.
Privileged to speak to the menin North Carolina and South
Carolina.
And so I've begun reading this.
It's called Witness to History,and it's a lot of photographs
(23:50):
and pictures and all the historyof this amazing movement that
began when two travelingsalesmen in 1898 ended up at an
overcrowded hotel, the Midwest,I believe it was.
They didn't know each other, butthey they were asked if they
wanted to share the room, or thealternative was sleeping on a
(24:13):
park bench, and so they decidedto share the room.
And one of the men that nightsaid to the other man he just
met, you know, it's my customand practice to read the Bible
and pray before I get into bed.
And do you mind if I do that?
And the man said, Well, you knowwhat?
I'm a Christian too.
Let's let's read the wordtogether and pray together.
(24:33):
They did.
Shared their testimony with eachother.
And then they began to talkabout the struggle it was to be
a traveling salesman.
I didn't realize that thereputation, especially in the
early 1900s, but travelingsalesmen were categorically
reputed to be womanizers anddrinkers and gamblers.
(24:55):
Rough life on the road.
So these two men began to talkabout what it would be like if
we could somehow create thisfellowship where we encouraged
other traveling salesmen.
And then tell our friends aboutthe gospel.
So they started dreaming alittle bit together.
They began to invite otherfriends of theirs that knew the
Lord who were also travelingsalesmen, and they had their
(25:15):
very first meeting a year later,and nobody came.
But they kept at it, they keptpressing on.
By the way, as an aside, todaythe Gideons are organized in 200
countries.
Nearly 200,000 businessmen, allvolunteers, are serving
(25:39):
evangelistically in a lot ofdifferent ways.
I thought it was just a Bible ina hotel, but it's actually
everything from streetevangelism to handing children's
Bibles translated now in ahundred languages.
In fact, they've given away nowin a little over a hundred years
more than two billion Bibles.
(25:59):
They just kept sowing the seed.
I'll give you one illustrationof where you never know what
God's going to do.
They recounted this in theirbook about Randy Smith from
Louisiana.
He was involved with some otherGideons or distributing New
Testaments to students standingoutside the busy entrance to a
major university in PortoAlegre, Brazil.
(26:22):
At one point they gave a NewTestament.
Maybe you've seen one.
I have one in my pickup truck, Icarry around with me, a little
New Testament, to one of thestudents, and uh he scoffed at
them, and then he said this.
He said, You know what you cando with all these Bibles?
(26:43):
You can just throw them awaylike I'm going to do now.
And he took that New Testament,he began and he threw it like a
frisbee, and it just sailedaway.
And it went over a flat rooftopand out of sight, and he stomped
away.
Well, that's encouraging.
(27:04):
They kept pressing on.
Later that afternoon, the authorof this history writes Randy and
his team were approached by aman covered with tar stains on
his arms, face, and clothing.
He'd been working on a nearbybuilding putting tar on the roof
(27:26):
to keep it from leaking.
And he said to these men, ThisToday I was making plans to take
my life because I've messed itup so badly.
But then a miracle happened.
God hit me on the head with thisGideon Bible.
(27:47):
I'm not recommending this methodof evangelism, but you'd never
know.
God hit me on the head with thisGideon Bible.
And he said, I have read thisafternoon inside this little New
Testament in the preface that Ican be forgiven and have eternal
life.
(28:07):
Would you please tell me how?
And they did.
There are many things in lifeyou can't predict.
Don't let the unexpectedparalyze you with fear.
There are a lot of mysteries inlife.
(28:28):
Don't let them rob you of joy.
We have been given the sweetlight of a new day.
And we're off to a good start.
Let's use it.
In whatever way God has placedin our lives ways to use it for
(28:49):
his glory.
By his grace.
SPEAKER_01 (29:15):
Let's make the most of those opportunities.
You've tuned in to Wisdom forthe Heart with Stephen Davy.
I'm Scott Wiley.
Today's message is called Livingwith the Unexplainable and
Unexpected.
It comes from Stephen's teachingseries from the Book of
Ecclesiastes called PursuingWisdom Under the Sun.
(29:39):
In the meantime, if you'vemissed any of the previous
messages, you can go back andlisten online.
We post them to the website,which is wisdomonline.org.
In the Teaching Archive sectionof our website, we have the
full-length version of thesesermons, and there's a video
(29:59):
there if you want to watch inaddition to listening.
You'll find that atwisdomonline.org.
Thanks again for tuning in.
Join us next time for morewisdom for the heart.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.