Inspired by Psalm 14, 139, and Romans 1

There’s a rhetorical question that upon rumination sparks peace, perspective, and wonder in my spirit.

“Did you choose to be born?”

The answer for everyone, of course, is a simple “no.” We cannot speak ourselves into existence. While we recognize that someone doesn’t choose the context to which they are born, we ought to take that logic one step further by acknowledging the obvious.

You didn’t ask to exist.

Let that sink in for a moment. It’s an incredibly simple thought with some ginormous implications. Why?

Because you do.

Questions should fill our minds. How? Why? Is there a reason? We spend so much energy trying to control lives that we never asked for in the first place. When is the last time you took a step back and contemplated the fact that you exist at all?

In his song What’s It All About, Andy Mineo candidly sings,

“What’s it all about, why are we here?
If there’s no reason why do I care?
A lot of people put they thoughts in my ear
But I gotta know for myself
So, yo, God are you really there?”

You don’t need a philosophy degree to ask these questions. You don’t even need a high school diploma. All you need is to exist.

So, what are the answers to those questions? What are those implications? Some say it depends on whom you ask. But if we didn’t even author our own lives, how canwe authoritatively answer such things for ourselves?

We better make sure we’re asking the right person for those answers and unless that person is responsible for your existence, why would you listen to them? What do they know?

I hope you’re thinking,

“Well, what do YOU know Brian?”

If not, then you aren’t hearing me. We need answers. Not from anyone, but from the one responsible for our existence.

Someone may respond by claiming nobody is responsible, but they exist due to random chance and scientific processes. While this claim has scientific problems on its own, is it not also an attempt to control the implications of existence?

By eliminating a creator from the equation and attributing their life to chance, one maintains that they are not responsible for their existence, but lays claim to personal autonomy as if they had been.

If an independent creator is responsible for your life, that means you are not the boss. There’s somebody higher than you. That which rules above you is not a voiceless, inanimate reality like chance. Rather, it is an all-powerful, sovereign maker who has answered the questions of your existence.

It shouldn’t be hard to envision how each path differs in practice. One who agrees with the former will subject themselves to an external authority only when it proves advantageous and will otherwise leave final decisions up to themselves. One who believes the latter knows they ought to submit to their creator as the ultimate authority, recognizing that they are not their own but belong to another. This is not to say that the creation is always in agreement with the creator. However, humbling oneself and surrendering the inner desire for control in reverent awe is necessary and resolves the dissonance.

The naturalistic western world scoffs at the “unscientific” notion of an intelligent designer. Is it not, however, the scientific method that requires a hypothesis to be tested? In the discussion of origins and existence, it seems that this step has been thrown out. Not only are we selectively skeptical, but hypotheses are crossed out before they even have a chance to be tested. My hypothesis is that the reason for this is not a lack of empirical reasoning, but a matter of the heart.

The idea of God disturbs many. Some believe he is a ruthless, unjust, cruel dictator who suppresses man from flourishing. Others think he is indifferent to the suffering of our world and that if he really was all-powerful, he would have stopped the many tragedies we see day in and day out.

When you open the Word of God, however, you see the opposite. You see the world’s problems come from man, not God. He is the only one with the solution, and that is through the bloodshed of His own Son. It is only through Jesus that you can come back to the one who made you, and only then will you begin to discover the true implications of your existence.

Don’t settle for my words. Go open a Bible and see for yourself. Hear the voice of the One who fashioned you in His image and paid the sin price to redeem you from your rebellion.  Come back to He who alone is qualified to answer the questions that leave you staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night.

I’m confident that when you meet Him, you’ll quickly see your limitations. In seeing those, you will begin to grow in gratitude that He is the one running things, not you. Finally, you will find yourself starting to become eager to obey as His instructions prove to be good and true as your best inclinations lead only to more questions and pain.

After all, we didn’t ask to exist. He spoke us into being.