The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/1_samuel/16.htm

It’s been a while since I touched base, so let me ask. For those who happen to be following, how you found “The Meaning of Life Yet?”

There are many people who may be facing troubles, financial, marital, family, employment, spiritual, and there may be other that are facing depression, all wondering why they are here, what is their purpose, what is the “meaning of life”.

The meaning of life is found right in the Bible. We are here because our God created us. God loves us, and wants the very best for us. When God created the earth, He made it to be perfect, life in Heaven. The temperature was even around the globe, no blazing hot summers, no bitter cold winters, there were no storm, not even rain; the fields and trees and herbs and flowers were watered by a mist that came up out of the ground. And God even made man so he didn’t even have to labor hard, to just enjoy life with God in his perfect garden.

But then man sinned, and that sin separated us from God. When created, it was God’s intention that we live forever, but once sin entered our lives we began to die a slow death.

But God still promises an eternal life for those who love Him. God will send His Son again to save us from the world we live in, and take us to Heaven to away the new world God will be building, a “New Jerusalem”.

So, what is the meaning of life, you say? The meaning of life is to follow God’s commandments, because they were not designed to be rigid rules we were required to follow, but they were designed to show us how to love and live with each other. God’s rules were there in the beginning, long before He called Moses up on the mountain, then he just wrote them in stone so people would remember because they had a really hard time remembering them.

And if we follow God’s rules, life would be so perfect. “Thou shall not commit adultery”…if we were to follow that, we wouldn’t have to worry about faithfulness in our marital relations. “Thou shalt not murder”, imagine living in a world where there are no shooting, no gang murders, no domestic violence killings, no mental illness resulting in mass shootings. “Thou shalt no steal”, I remember in my youth when we could go to bed and sleep all night without locking our doors, but not today. If we followed God’s commandments, our relationship with Him and with each other would be perfect.

And if we really don’t have to focus on following His Commandments, because if we love Him, truly love Him, following His Commandments will come naturally because we would not want to hurt Him.

And while we live our lives with a close relationship to God, we are to be fruitful and multiply, have families, enjoy the lives that God has given us. And if we stay close to God, our lives will face less hardship. When we distance ourself from God, we lower the “hedge of protection” God has around us, and it allows Satan to come into our lives.

So far in our study of the Bible, God has given us example after example after example of how we should live our lives to remain close to Him, and He has given example after example of how not to live our lives, ways that cause us to distance from God, ignore His Commands, and fall prey to the devil.

Life isn’t meant to be hard. Yes, we will all face hardships in life, but if we remain close to God, He will be sure to protect us, to comfort us, to care for us. And the whole thing can be wrapped up in a nutshell; God created us, and He loves us to no end. We have people on earth we love, spouses, children, siblings, parents, friends and other relatives, but none of it compares to God’s love. We are not able, with our earthly minds, to begin to fathom the love that comes from God. It is overwhelming.

So if you want to know what the meaning of life is, why you are here on this earth, what your role is, just read your Bible. It’s all there.

Now, on to another chapter in the First Book of Samuel.

We can now see how the character of Saul is changing, quickly and drastically. He is no longer an introvert, unsure of his abilities to be king. He has now become arrogant, angry with his own failures but refusing to take responsibility for them, and you can even begin to assume his mental health if failing. Anyone who has worked a job has surely met someone who was one of the nicest co-workers there ever was, and once they received a promotion, their character slowly changed.

Even myself, who received several promotions, know how it can affect you. As I became older and wiser, I became better equipped to handle those promotions, but the first couple were a nightmare. You suddenly were thrust into a position you once thought you could handle with ease, but now that you are there, you begin to have self-doubt. You want to keep up the appearance that you know what you are doing, so anyone that might question or challenge you makes you become defensive. And if you are not able to keep grounded, I can see where it could easily lead to paranoia.

God instructs Samuel to anoint a new king, and Samuel expresses fear that if Saul finds out, Saul might kill him. This tells you that not only has Saul became paranoid, he has now become capable of murder. He has started relying on his own wisdom and judgement rather than God. And all these characteristics are not fit for the King of Israel, the king of God’s Chosen people.

So God tells Samuel how to go and anoint the new king without arousing Saul’s suspicions, and Samuel anoints a shepherd named David. David was the son of Jesse, who was the son of Obed, who was the son of Boaz and Ruth. And now we know why we studied the Book of Ruth.

The chapter ends speaking of a “distressing spirit” which overcomes Saul, and they call David, the newly appointed king who also plays the harp, to come and play for Saul. Coincidence? I think it was more of God’s plan.

So when David plays the harp for Saul, the “distressing spirit” leaves Saul and he is refreshed.

Can you think of another way to describe a “distressing spirit”? I can. Saul was mentally ill.

Do you suppose his mental illness would have faltered had he stayed close to God?