Who Is Man That He Should Forget…?

No matter how fast and far we may have moved, no matter how much we may have done or made, there are always unanswered questions⎯searching: for purpose, for meaning, for assurance. And always there is need for the simple essentials: happiness, health, loved ones; duty, decency; service, sincerity. And to all of these we ought to add another: humility⎯humility that comes with knowing how little we know. We discover a little, we control some things, sometimes. But nature, the weather, the seasons; age, illness; life and death, take us at times where they will, with all our little words and wisdom, in all the little parts we play, and with unceasing search, for truth and for ultimate answers. Who knows how two cells join and divide⎯how some become an eye, some a tooth, some the hair of the head. Who can make a seed that will grow, or a blade of grass, a worm, or a single living cell. Who can answer the questions God asked Job so many centuries ago: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? When… all the sons of God shouted for joy?… declare, if thou hast understanding…. Where is the way where light dwelleth?… Who hath [caused] it to rain on the earth…? Hast thou given the horse strength?… Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom…. Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?” Who gave the body power to heal itself? Who gave instinct to animals? What would we do if Spring didn’t come, if seeds didn’t grow, if we didn’t have our harvest? Men have done much, learned much, discovered much, but not enough to justify conceit and self-sufficiency. We still are children before an Infinite Father⎯with all our need for happiness, and health, and humility⎯loved ones⎯duty, decency; service, sincerity. And besides the classic question, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him,” there is yet another: Who is man that he should forget?