Why Are We Here?

Many people add another question to those often raised: Is there anything ahead of us beyond a short life of 70 or 80 years, followed by death? —“All our days pass away in your fury; we finish our years like a whisper. The span of our life is 70 years, Or 80 if one is especially strong; But they are filled with trouble and sorrow; They quickly pass by, and away we fly.” (Psalm, 90:9, 10)

We tend to ask such questions most intensely when we feel the brevity of life pressing in on us. Yet we do not need to face a crisis to wonder why we exist. Disappointment can stir the question, and so can quiet reflection on the direction our life has taken.

Dave once had a comfortable income, a pleasant apartment, and a lively social circle. Still, he recalls a moment of clarity: “I was walking home from a party late one night when the question hit me: ‘Is this it?​—Will I only live a brief period of time and then die? Or is there something more?’ What struck me was the hollowness of my life at the time.”

Viktor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, observed that some Holocaust survivors confronted similar questions after their liberation. Returning home, many discovered that their families were gone. Frankl wrote: “Woe to him who, when the day of his dreams finally came, found it so different from all he had longed for!”

Those Who Raise the Question

The question of our purpose is not new. People of every era have wrestled with it. The Bible records the anguish of Job, who, after losing his children and his possessions and while suffering intense illness, asked:
“Why from the womb did I not proceed to die? Why did I not come forth from the belly itself and then expire?” (Job, 3:11)

Elijah felt something similar. Feeling isolated in his worship, he pleaded:
“It is enough! Now, O Jehovah, take my soul away.” (1 Kings, 19:4)

Such emotions resonate with many today. The Bible even describes Elijah as “a man with feelings like ours.” (James, 5:17)

A Successful Trip Through Life

Life is often likened to a journey. Just as someone might set out without a destination, a person can move through life without ever identifying its true purpose. When that happens, it becomes easy to be swept up in what Stephen R. Covey called “the busy‑ness of life.” He described people who “find themselves achieving victories that are empty, successes that have come at the expense of things they suddenly realize were far more valuable to them.”

Speeding up a journey is pointless if we are travelling in the wrong direction. In the same way, filling our days with more activity cannot produce meaning. It only deepens the sense of emptiness.

The search for purpose crosses cultures, ages, and backgrounds. It springs from a deep spiritual need that remains even when our material needs are satisfied. People have tried many ways to fill that need as they search for life’s purpose.