Why is there something rather than nothing? Why does anything exist at all? These are basic questions about the meaning of life. Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? “God created the universe,” you say, yes, but exactly why did He do so? What purpose did he have in mind? In particular, why were you created? What is the purpose of your life? What do you hope to achieve with the limited amount of time you have on this earth? Such questions brood within the soul, even if they are hidden from consciousness by various forms of busyness and distraction. At the outset of serious thinking about anything at all we are confronted with such ultimate questions. What is real? Why are we here? Where are we going? What does God want from us?
“Where am I? Who am I? How did I come to be here? What is this thing called the world? How did I come into the world? Why was I not consulted? And If I am compelled to take part in it, where is the director? I want to see him.” – Soren Kierkegaard
The Torah begins: “In the beginning God created…” (Gen. 1:1). No explanation is given, simply the mysterious declaration that God’s eternal power is behind the realm of the world of appearances. We only begin to get some idea of God’s hidden purposes as he reveals his design in Scripture. There we learn that God chose to create the universe yesh me’ayin, “out of nothing,” in order to share his wisdom, glory, and love with other beings He created. “You created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev. 4:11). All this was for the sake of the Messiah, who built the world in chesed (חֶסֶד) and who forever reigns as the King of eternal life and love. “For from him and through him and to him are all things” (Rom. 11:36). The purpose of your life is to learn that you are beloved by God, to know and receive the infinite worth you have in his eyes, and to share that love with others. Indeed, you were created to be made part of God’s great family, the Kingdom of Love…
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