Quite often I have spoken about retreating from a life of triviality and escaping this modern desire to be entertained. I sat in a waiting room the other day and watched the people come and go. Over the course of about 45 minutes at least a dozen different people came and went. Do you know what they all did? Within 60 seconds of sitting down, without exception, they all pulled out their smart phones. I guess they were bored.
Perhaps they were reading articles that they used to find in the crumpled-up pages of waiting room magazines, but in most cases, I think not. I would like to think they found an electronic way to redeem the time, maybe it was a Bible app, but I think they were just bored. What is boredom, and why did God create the world with boredom as a main feature of daily life; at least in this age? I’m not talking about clinical depression, but the general boredom in this life, common to most all of us.
When we are busy with work, family, and hobbies, we may not feel it. But it’s always there. A moment of downtime and boredom finds us again. Such boredom in this world seems to lead to all sorts of behaviors that Christians deem sinful: Overindulging in smart phones, social media, entertainment, and gaming, having illicit relationships and affairs, and participating in gossip and idle conversation.
It has always puzzled me that God, at least in terms of His sovereignty over fallen man’s daily experience, has us experience a seemingly constant desire to be entertained or to otherwise “escape” from reality. We prefer not to think. Thus, the constant desire for amusement, that is “not-thinking.” At the root, what is boredom? What causes it? What does it signify? And do you think God has a purpose in it for his children?
Until recently, I had never considered how the concept of boredom is handled in the Bible. Of course, the word’s not actually in the Bible. It is interesting to me that the Bible doesn’t have the word boring anywhere in it. Well, perhaps some versions might. Even though the word boredom is not found in the Bible, there is a whole book devoted to boredom. It’s called Ecclesiastes. Listen to this:
“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” Ecclesiastes 1:2–8
Now, that’s probably the closest thing you’ll get to the word boredom. A broad statement that all of life is just emptiness. “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Ecclesiastes 1:14
That’s a very powerful description of a life that has sought non-boredom and didn’t find it anywhere under the sun — that is, without God.
Ecclesiastes is a book of what life is like if God is not in it. If God is not the focal point of our lives, we are not going to find true meaning in life. The experience of boredom is universal, not that everybody experiences it all the time, but everybody has tasted it. And nobody likes it. Boredom by its very nature is unsatisfying. If you’re satisfied, you’re not bored.
Now, since nobody likes being bored, we all take steps, according to our various personalities, budgets, circumstances, and beliefs, to get rid of it. If we’re super energetic, we might work ourselves out of boredom or play ourselves out of boredom. And if we’re more lethargic, then we may just sit on the couch, grab our phones or turn the TV on, and try to get rid of our boredom electronically.
But, does boredom have a purpose? Yes, I think it does. Boredom is the relentless experience of not finding satisfaction in this world. Something starts out being exciting and satisfying, but soon we weary of it and we need something else. You can only stand in awe of Niagara Falls for a few hours. After that, you are ready to get back to reality and watch television or check your social media. You need something else to give you the excitement that Niagara Falls no longer supplies. Even great things can become boring for the carnal human heart.
So, what did God have in mind when He ordained the universal experience of boredom in a world of sin and rebellion against God? What’s his purpose for it? May I share three thoughts?
We Were Made for God
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also, he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” Now, I don’t know all that this verse means, but the least that it means, is that God plans for human beings to be frustrated with their experience in this world until they realize that they were made to have intimate fellowship with God. He has all the answers we want. Answers we long for because He put the longing there in the first place.
We Were Also Made for Another World
Here’s the way C.S. Lewis says it: “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” Or to say it another way, if we find that nothing in this world is a long-term solution to the problem of boredom, we were probably made for another world. Boredom points to God. That’s God’s purpose for boredom in this fallen world: to point us to another world.
We Were Made to Be Restless
Most everything that we find interesting will fade in its glory. Our interest will wane. Whether it is a new house, new car, or a new marriage, if we are not careful the excitement will fade over time. I think that is God’s design in this universal experience of boredom: Soon we will exhaust our amazement with everything, but we will never exhaust our amazement with God. Boredom points us to the origin of everything interesting, and to the world where no one will ever be bored again; God’s presence through Jesus Christ.
Now, if you happen to find yourself in a place where your faith doesn’t have the same fire and excitement that it used to have, let me give you a couple of things to check:
Check your Expectations. If you’re the type to sit on a stump and wait for God to work everything out, then you have likely entered the dangerous state of entitlement. We often make our relationship with God all about us and what we get from it. Of course, this doesn’t bode well in any relationship.
Check your Investments. What are you putting into the relationship? Although you can never earn or merit favor from God, what we get out of any relationship is often linked to whatever we put into it.
Check your Influences. I heard it once said, “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” It makes a difference who you spend your time with. Proverbs. 27:17 tells us that “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”
So, the question is, who is sharpening you? Do you seek counsel from the wise and prudent? Do you have someone that you are accountable to? Is there anyone in your circle that you report to regularly to sharpen and help you to keep the spirit alive? If not, then you are no longer being affected and you’re likely being infected. There is no neutral in the spirit realm. It’s either Heavenly, or it’s demonic.
Check your Itinerary. The number one, excuse for not spending time with God is busyness. We are prone to believe the enemy’s lies that we don’t have time to be with God. Yet, we all do.
Boredom is rampant because there is not much in this world that will not eventually bore you. However, God is so infinite, so amazing, so unsearchable that you will never be bored with Him. Perhaps that explains why we are often bored in the first place. Rather than being bored to death; God desires us to be bored to life!
Dr. Worthington has been in the ministry for over forty five years and serves as President of Pathway Ministries and Christian Bible College.