How To Ruin Your Life (And How To Come Back) 5-Day DevotionalSample

Day 2: Ignore Your Boredom (Romans 11:33–36)

Sitting with an older man, a man I love and respect, I asked him about the dark period in his life—the period when he abandoned the wife of his youth for another woman. He realized the folly of his ways, repented, came home to his wife, and she graciously and fully forgave him. There was, of course, struggle and regret before the beauty of the restoration, but they are happily married now and have counseled many other couples through a similar period of darkness and strife.

“So was your marriage rocky leading up to your affair?” I asked and expected to hear of challenging times, years of distance, or a hardening of his heart toward his wife.

“No. She was great. The affair didn’t begin with my marriage,” he responded.

“What was it then?"

“I was bored with work, bored with my life. I was just bored.”

Though boredom can sound innocent, boredom can ruin us.

We see this again when we return to the implosion of King David. What was David doing when he saw Bathsheba bathing and responded by sinning against her, her husband, and God? Walking around on the roof. He couldn’t sleep, so he got up, walked around, and looked for something to fill his boredom. His boredom pulled him from his bed, drove him to a late night walk in search of something, and urged him to invite a married woman into his palace and into his arms. 

But if God is as great as He truly is, we have no reason, no excuse, to ever be bored! Consider the words of Paul in Romans 11: depth, riches, wisdom, knowledge, unsearchable, untraceable. There is no one like the Lord. 

The cure to our boredom is not to try to replace with unfulfilling things that Satan tells us will give us pleasure and enjoyment, but that will ultimately ruin our lives; the cure to our boredom is to look to Jesus. Where are you looking? Are your eyes fixed on your boring career, relationships, and possessions, or on the eternally satisfying glory of God?