In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 11:1
I remember, as a child, just how much I despised boredom. I especially think about times when I would visit my father in Portland. (My parents divorced when I was young.) Some days, I’d go to work with my dad, which usually meant driving for hours up into the mountains, spending a few hours watching my dad dig trees to sell to nurseries, then driving for hours back home. But on days without work, of which there were many, given the seasonal nature of tree-digging, we would spend most of the time sitting at home where there was, literally, nothing to do! OK, we did have the peg game, that little triangular wooden board with plastic pegs like you find at a Cracker Barrel. I cannot imagine how many hours I spent playing at that. Occasionally there would be something on TV (on one of the three networks the antennae picked up...we had no cable, dvds, vcrs, or gaming systems). But most of the time we’d sit in the living room listening to 50’s Country & Western on the radio…an absolutely exhilarating pass time for a 10-year-old boy. All this to say, I knew boredom. When I, even for a moment, compare the entertainment options available to kids today with what we had in the 70’s and 80’s…it is mind-boggling. The existence of the smart-phone alone, connected as it is to the “anything and everything all of the time” world of the internet, is about as alien to my up-bringing as would be a space-ship filled with little green men landing in my backyard. And yet…and yet…kids today still suffer from boredom. Or, even more surprising, adults today still suffer from boredom. How is it possible that we, who have so much to distract us, still suffer from this epidemic?!? We could ask the same question of King David. Certainly, 3,000 years ago, long before TV and Country & Western music, a little boredom would be understandable. And yet, he was likely the most powerful leader in the world during his day. He had wealth beyond imagining. How could such a man be bored? The answer is found, at least in part, in the simple verse quoted above. At the time when Kings should be going off to war, David remained in Jerusalem. The underlying indication here seems to be that David, rather than doing his duty as commander in chief, chose instead to avail himself of creature comforts. Of course, in the following verses, we find that David chose to avail himself of a bit more than that, including the pleasures of another man’s wife. And it all begins with a self-induced boredom, “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful…” (2 Samuel 11:2). We know the rest of the story. What’s key, here, is that David’s neglect of the things he should have been doing led to boredom which led to him seeking out things he should not have been doing. But couldn’t we say the same thing of ourselves? Our neglect not only of our responsibilities, but also of just good things, beneficial things, things that matter in the Kingdom of God, leads to boredom, which too often leads to that which is not beneficial. I think, especially, here, of our use of the internet. “But the internet’s not bad! It’s just a tool. It’s what we choose to do with it that’s either good or bad.” Well, there is some truth to that. However, do we ever pause to think that maybe the tool, itself, carries with it inherent pitfalls that render it not quite as neutral as we might believe? Today, I was reading an article titled, “3 Ways the Internet Itself Resembles Pornography,” by author Samuel James. He makes some profound, if not scary, arguments for the intrinsically addictive nature of the internet: Few Christians would dispute that there is much on the internet that harms us. But by divorcing what the internet presents from what the internet intrinsically is, we are fighting against the symptoms of a more fundamental disease that we are failing to treat. “Staying pure online” is a worthy ambition, but defining purity to mean only one thing—the avoidance of certain content—not only misses the richer biblical ideal of wise living, but it ironically makes us more vulnerable to the allure of godless ideas and rhythms of life. It is entirely possible—in fact, all variables equal, it is likely—to faithfully avoid vulgar or explicit content on the web while simultaneously being shaped by it in a profoundly sub-Christian way. I do not have space to plumb the depths of this topic in this article. (I highly recommend James’ article). However, I do think there is strong reason to give thought to our vulnerability to godless ideas and rhythms of life. Now that we are a fair way into the Fall, it might be worth asking if our current rhythms, especially in those things we engage in to stave off boredom, reflect “the richer biblical ideal of wise living.” As Paul writes, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial” (1 Cor. 6:12 and 10:23). I can easily think of some kingdom-focused pursuits we do well to prioritize in our weekly/daily rhythms: time in God’s Word, time with God’s people, time given to serving for the sake of the Kingdom, time given to relationship, time given to prayer. But I also think of just the more beneficial, less vegetative, pass times of creating with our hands or minds, reading a “good” book, enjoying our Father’s world. May we, as followers of Jesus, find rhythms for our free time which help us fulfill our duties as subjects of Christ’s forever Kingdom and which reap genuine benefit for ourselves and others, helping us grow together in Christ.
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Dan GannonDan has ministered at Renton Bible Church, with his wife Debbie, since 2003. Archives
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