Daily Encouragement: Year 2, Day 88
From Handbook to God’s Promises
GOD’S DESIRE TO KNOW ME
Why Am I Here?
Read Psalm 8:3–8
A person who looks at life without the perspective of God’s love can fall into discouragement quickly. Like a creeping fog, feelings of isolation and insignificance can overtake even the most centered and grounded of human beings.
From feelings of despair, and through the eyes of naturalists, arose the philosophy of existentialism. Sounding positive at first—a focus on the uniqueness of the individual in a huge universe—existentialism quickly degenerates into a “Why does it matter?” view of life. If humans are unique, so different from one another that they are totally unconnected and isolated, adrift in a sea of equally unique but unconnected humans, then where is their significance? Where is the significance in anything? The honest existentialist wishes he or she knew the answer to the questions “Why am I here?” and “Does anyone care about me?”
Another deep thinker asked those questions centuries ago—and immediately discovered the answers. Actually, because he was a man who looked at life predominantly through spiritual eyes, he asked the question rhetorically. He already knew the answer, but he asked and answered as a form of praise to God. Yet, in David’s words of praise, we find the stark facts about the isolation—or the significance—of human beings, depending on one’s point of view.
Verse 3 of Psalm 8 sets the stage: The universe is so vast, the planets so huge, the stars so numerous—what possible significance could humans have in the grand scheme of things? This is a meaningful question, one every believer should ask and learn to answer. The existentialist’s answer is simple: None; humans have no significance. The biblicist’s answer is also simple: Plenty; humans are the objects of God’s thoughts and care (verse 4). Humanity’s true identity is rooted in the fact that, among God’s creatures, humans are the only organisms created in God’s image. That’s the key—immediate significance forever.
Feeling isolated and insignificant lately? Go out tonight, look at the heavens, and then remember: God’s thoughts and care bypass the heavens to get to you.
God’s Promise: It is right for you to know God’s thoughts and to need His care.