Meaning in a Meaningless World

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

Believers often feel like Moses did during his time in Midian—“a stranger in a strange land” (Exodus 2:22; KJV). Moses never did fit in wherever he was. Destined to die as an infant along with all the Hebrew males of his day, he is rescued by the daughter of the King who had decreed his death sentence. Returned briefly to be nursed (for pay) by his own mother, he is then raised in Pharaoh’s household. After his attempt to alleviate his people’s suffering resulted in rejection by them and another death sentence by Pharaoh, he went into a self-imposed exile in Midian where he worked as a shepherd and started a family, naming his son “Gershom” (“stranger there”) to memorialize his sense of alienation. When God eventually called him to his true identity, he resisted. But God persisted and Moses becomes one of the greatest leaders of all time. Yet, despite the remarkable service he showed to his native people, he lived as a man apart, never truly belonging.

This sense of alienation from the world around us is normal for God’s people. The world as we know it doesn’t seem like home. Like those listed in the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews, we are “strangers and exiles on earth” (11:13), “seeking a homeland” (11:14), “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (11:16).

At the current time, the discord we sense is exacerbated by an increasing sense of meaninglessness. Generations have been told that we are nothing more than the product of energy and matter plus chance. The masses seek to fill this void of meaninglessness with all sorts of distractions to mask growing despair. Unsatisfied with the pursuit of pleasure, some invent meaning for themselves through work, family, or various causes. Deep down they don’t really know why they do what they do, since they don’t believe there is a “why” to know.

Yeshua’s followers assert they know the “why,” that through the Messiah and the Scriptures we have meaning and purpose. But we regard that meaning and purpose as the antidote to a meaningless world. Agreeing with the world’s perspective of itself that it is meaningless, purposeless, and hopeless, we find meaning, purpose, and hope in an alternate existence in the future. This enables us to endure as “strangers in a strange land.”

While this may sound biblical, there is a subtle error in this way of looking at life. And this error undermines our calling to effectively serve God in an apparently meaningless world. It is appealing to turn our thoughts away from the perceived void of this life to visions of another world in order to cope with this one. But is that what authentic biblical spirituality is all about? Is this what it means to “desire a better country”? Were the ancient heroes of faith motivated by their desire for earth’s inevitable destruction and their transference to an immaterial existence? Did they suffer through a black hole of nothingness in the hope of being granted access to a distant otherly land of meaning and purpose?

That’s an interesting story, but not a biblical one. The world in which we live is not meaningless. It was created by God on purpose and for his purposes. He specially designed human beings and appointed us to steward Plant Earth, a responsibility he never rescinded. The alienation from the creation we experience Is not due to anything intrinsic, whether it be lack of meaning or anything else. We are strangers, not because we don’t belong on this planet, but because God’s plans and purposes for the planet were hijacked through our first parents’ collusion with Satan. God’s intention from that moment was to realign the creation with its designed purpose, where human beings fully and freely serve him under his reign through his Son, his chosen King.

Therefore, while true meaning is foreign to our current existence, God’s revelation through the Scriptures is not intended to provide us a disconnected state of mind to help us cope with an otherwise futile existence. The futility we struggle with is based on deep layers of misunderstanding due to the consequences of sin. Through the Bible, God gives us the opportunity to discover what life is really all about, the meaning and purpose of his creation.

All heroes of the faith whether it be Moses or those listed in the book of Hebrews or from any time in history yearn for the restoration of all things in the new heavens and the new earth when the plans and purposes of God will be in full synch with its inhabitants. Until then we have the opportunity in the name of Yeshua with the help of the Holy Spirit to not only to understand the true meaning of life, but to rescue others from the desperation of meaninglessness.