In his book, "Back to Virtue," author and philosopher Peter Kreeft points out that the word for boredom did not exist in premodern languages. So it seems that boredom is a relatively modern term, a condition that afflicts more people today than it did centuries ago.
Not only are we bored as a modern society, but we are depressed as well. According to IMS Health, antidepressants led the market in prescription drugs in 2007, totaling $12 billion in sales. And in 2008, antidepressants still ranked among the top five pharmaceuticals being dispensed in the U.S.
As a whole, we are a nation of bored and depressed people. Does that describe you? Maybe you have tried a number of things, yet nothing gives you that buzz, that thrill you are looking for. The Bible talks about someone who felt that way. His name was Solomon, and he committed himself to researching the roots of human behavior to discover why people do what they do.
Meanwhile, as a king, he ignored the affairs of state. He neglected his family. He set aside all spiritual principles and truth. And whether it was passion, pleasure, philosophy, sex, or money, he determined to find out everything he possibly could about the topic. He would explore it – examine all sides. Solomon was not content to merely study these things; he wanted to personally experience them.
Among the avenues that Solomon pursued in his quest for meaning was knowledge. Certainly the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom is a good one. There are very few things this life offers that are better than the pursuit of a good education. We celebrate our dramatic advances in science and technology, and they have been breathtaking, to say the least. But if in that pursuit we leave out God, then it, too, will be an empty one. As Gen. Omar Bradley stated in an Armistice Day speech in 1948, "We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. ... The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants."
If intellectualism alone were the major key to purpose and fulfillment, then our university and college campuses would be bastions of peace and purpose. People would flock to them from all around our nation to find answers. Yet a walk through a typical, secular university will show you the emptiness of academic pursuit without God. That is the conclusion Solomon drew: "Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief" (Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 niv).
So Solomon shifted gears and decided to abandon himself instead to the pursuit of pleasure. He essentially had unlimited time and resources to do whatever he wanted to do. He was the king, his kingdom was at peace, and there were no domestic problems to speak of. But he soon discovered that pleasure is short-lived. It is like waiting in line at an amusement park. When your turn finally comes, the ride is over in a matter of minutes. In life, we can do a lot of waiting for short-lived pleasures that, at best, leave us empty. Solomon concluded, "Laughter ... is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" (Ecclesiastes 2:2 niv).
Then Solomon thought maybe he would find what he was looking for in alcohol: "I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly ..." (Ecclesiastes 2:3 niv). During my childhood, I saw firsthand the futility and the emptiness of this. I saw how my once-beautiful mother threw it all away chasing after men, money and alcohol. Think of the lives ruined, the homes broken and the pain that has been caused by alcohol. "Happy Hour" doesn't look very happy to me.
Solomon's next pursuit was to build the most amazing places possible: "I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees" (Ecclesiastes 2:4-6 niv). Solomon went on a "building binge," with a portfolio of construction projects that would have made Donald Trump's endeavors look small in comparison. Yet Solomon found that this, too, was empty: "When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:11 niv).
In the end, Solomon discovered that all pursuits without God are empty ones. So his bottom line was this: It's all about knowing the God who made you and living the way He wants you to live (see Ecclesiastes 12:13–14). Solomon knew, as a seasoned pro, that if you leave God out of the picture, life will be empty, meaningless, and futile. He also knew that the answer to having a full life, a life with purpose, is to fear God and obey him. To "fear" God does not mean being afraid of him. Rather, it means giving respect, reverence and honor to him.
Solomon recognized that God knows what he is talking about, and he respected that. And if we want to live a life filled with meaning and purpose, then we should too.
