What On Earth Are We Here For? — Morning Devotions - Hope 103.2

What On Earth Are We Here For? — Morning Devotions

It is God who is the giver of life—only he knew the exact genetic code necessary to make you who you are. Otherwise you would not be here today.

Listen: Chris Witts presents Morning Devotions.

By Chris WittsTuesday 4 May 2021Morning Devotions with Chris WittsDevotionsReading Time: 3 minutes

One of the most important questions we can ask in life is this: What on earth am I here for? It’s a big question, one that has been asked many times by many people, young and old, down through the centuries.

If we can’t answer this question, what about all the other issues of life? How can we make sense of life if we can’t answer the question—what’s my purpose in life? For what reason was I born? Isn’t there more to life than what I am doing today? The atheist Bertrand Russell said, “Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless”.

The Bible has some remarkable words in Psalm 139, which I believe give us answers. King David, the author, said in his prayer to God:

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them”. (Psalm 139:16-17 – NIV)

Have you ever stopped to consider your life and how events have happened over the years? Was it all just by chance, or was God in charge of your destiny. Think back to special times when God has protected you and guided your life, even when you didn’t know it. I believe that God answers our prayers—when we pray for ourselves or for our family. He holds the keys of the unknown, and in ways we don’t understand, he works in our lives, sometimes in spite of our sinfulness and rebellion against him.

There are many stories of people who tried to run away from God’s call on their lives, only to discover he doesn’t give up. As David once said, “I can never be lost to your Spirit! I can never get away from my God!” (Psalm 139:7). How much better it would be if we could pray: Dear Lord, left on my own I would go my way. But, by whatever means you see fit, please keep me in the place where I can be used by you, for your plan and purpose. What a difference it would make to our own lives and to the impact we could have on others.

God planned you—you’re not a mistake

I read recently of a minister who was telling his two grandchildren something of his life and said to his six-year-old grandson Sam: “You are very special; you are not a mistake. God planned you before you were born; in fact, he planned you a very long time ago, and when he planned you, he had a very special reason in his mind.” “What was that?”, Samuel inquired. “To be honest with you, Sam, I don’t know”, he responded. “I only know he has a special purpose for each one of us, and that includes you and your sister. But if you keep talking to him and reading the Bible, I promise you he will also talk to you and tell you what it is.”

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As we look back on our lives, we see the hand of a providential God in our life, especially in hard times. But what about the moment life begins? The psalmist says of God, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:13-14). Think of it: the Creator of the universe gets personally involved in making us who we are! All we can do is acknowledge the awesomeness of our Creator and appreciate the fact that he designed the absolute uniqueness of every individual.

The psalmist says, “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.” (Psalm 139:15). As a Creator, God decided which egg would be fertilised and which one of the hundreds of millions of sperm would be successful. God is sovereign. Only he knew the exact genetic code necessary to make you who you are. Otherwise you would not be here today.

It is God who is the giver of life, the One who chooses what genetic elements to combine to make us who we are, and the One who weaves us together in our mother’s womb. It’s a wonderful concept in answering the question, What on earth I’m here for?