Living under the sun (existing in the belief God does not exist or is absent) is so meaningless that it is absurdly and irritatingly frustrating. The atheists’ and agnostics’ illusions cannot avoid a nagging deploy that God has placed in our hearts (10). God has set eternity in our hearts, and yet we are unable to fathom what God has done from beginning to end (11). We cannot discover it. We cannot understand it. We cannot grasp it. We know there is a reason, but the human mind is incapable of processing all the information. We cannot come to a reasonable and true answer. How frustrating this is!
We ask, “Why? What is the meaning of life? What do I gain from all this toil? (9)” Being godless and still having eternity set in the heart leaves a person neither satisfied with what they are nor with their answers that try to understand God’s purpose in all this. The material rationalist cannot rationally answer the questions of life. This is a great source of frustration!
The person that capitulates to the lovingly unrelenting God discovers the solution, and in that finds peace. The frustration goes away, vanishing like steam in the air and rain soaking in the earth. The believer in Jesus learns that “there is nothing better than to rejoice and be happy and do good while they live. They learn God’s gift is also that we find satisfaction and joy in all the good that comes from our toil. We accept God’s gifts. (12,13)” The answers to life’s whys are no longer relevant to those who love and fear God.
C.S. Lewis in all his education and wisdom eventually capitulated after a long frustrating search for the why’s. He listened to and slowly accepted the words of his friends J. R. R. Tolkien, Nevill Coghill, Lord David Cecil, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and his brother Warren Lewis. He began calling himself “The Most Reluctant Convert”. I suggest watching the recent movie “C.S. Lewis, the Most Reluctant Convert.”
