The Way Out of Apathy

Apathy isn’t where people begin in life.   It’s where they tragically end up.

So what happens to us?   How does our joy end up in numbness and our passion turn into calloused disinterest?

Some years back, I heard a message from an English Bible teacher who gave us this insight:   apathy is the outcome of unresolved anger.     We get hurt and feel it’s unfair.     God didn’t stop it or prevent it.    God isn’t removing it or resolving it.    So we’re angry at Him.

We think we’re angry at a human being or a group of people.    We think we’re angry at events and unjust structures.    But who is behind all of this?   Whoever sits on the throne of the Universe, that’s who.   God is always the Person we’re angry with when we’re angry.

Pain from God naturally leads to anger at God.

So we bargain with God.   We accuse God of injustice.   We plead with Him.  We promise Him things.  We threaten Him.  And still He doesn’t bow to our wishes or give us the relief we desire.

So we walk away from Him.    And we give up on Him.    In retaliation for His not caring for us, we stop caring for Him.     We stop listening, stop seeking, stop reading, stop praying, stop going, and withdraw our affections and our service from Him.    We want Him to hurt as much as we hurt.

“There!  That will show You, God!   That will teach You to mess with me!”

But since we can’t remain numb and disconnected and empty for long, our apathy drives us to experiment and delve into the cheap pleasures of the world system.     We bury our pain and our anger in activities and enjoyments.

But underneath the glitter and the glaze of smug self-sufficiency, we are miserable and poor and blind and naked in spirit.     The pain is merely covered, not resolved.   It still holds us in its sway.    Our life is a house of cards.

And all this distancing from God and self-indulgent abuse of ourselves carries higher and higher price tags.    Instead of feeling more alive, we become more and more unresponsive and self-deadened.   We are trapped.

Is there a way out of apathy?   Is there a way home for us?

The way back involves going back to the original pain–the original offense we have against God.    But instead of repeating our accusations, our pride is broken and ask for undeserved grace.

We admit we are utterly powerless and out of control–enslaved to the people, experiences and substances we’ve repeatedly used to prop ourselves up.   All we can do is admit, “I need help, Lord!  I give up!”

Then something unexpected happens.     The very sorrows that tempted us to rage at God become hallowed ground, places where we encounter His love in the desert of our brokenness.

Pain from God leads to a fresh experience of the grace of God.    And such grace causes us to experience an immense gratitude towards God.    We want to know Him and be close to Him.   We move in His direction.   We even begin to pursue Him and want intimacy with Him more than we want pain relief from Him.

He becomes our treasure of treasures once more, and knowing Him is its own highest reward.    Then He takes us on holy adventures and sends us on impossible missions.     We’re alive again.

Unworthy substitutes for Him drop away like leaves off a late fall tree during a windstorm.     We’re too busy enjoying the real thing to care.

There is no reason for anyone to die in apathy, in the frigid wasteland of frozen anger at God.     A spring thaw is at hand if we only had the courage to clasp it.