I recently rented the Emoji Movie to watch with my kids. We avoided paying premium prices to see it in theaters because the reviews were so bad. We discovered that our expectations were adequately lowered enough for us to enjoy it.
The plot centers on the inner life of a young boy’s smartphone. His emojis stand vigilant, always prepared to illustrate his every text message. They have one job, and one job only, to maintain a monolithic facial expression.
The main character is a “meh” emoji named Gene. Mehs are supposed to be rather lethargic looking. Meh symbols communicate a disconnected and disinterested outlook. But Gene is a malfunctioning multi-expressional emoji. It’s just not in him to be meh all the time.
How about you? Are you a meh? I think that sometimes in the church we can become rather cold and cynical to the sinfulness in the world, in our churches, and in our mirrors starring back at us. It can be easier to just detach, expect the worse, and shrug off hopeful notions of progress and redemption. Things just suck. That’s what it looks like to live in a fallen world.
Meh.
If you take a stroll through the Psalms you will see that they always lead us back to praise
The Bible doesn’t have anything good to say about apathy. On the other hand, Scripture does have a lot to say about suffering. It seems we are to suffer without becoming a motley crew of mehs. But how?
The biblical storyline is permeated with hope and suffering. The Psalms, for example, cover the range of emotions but are often set in a minor key. The oldest book in the Bible is Job, a book about a man who lost everything. The first book in chronological order in the Old Testament, Genesis, is about how humanity lost paradise. The last book of the Bible begins with a series of letters to churches that are being persecuted.
Meh! That would be an easy way to respond, wouldn’t it? This is just life in a fallen world. Shrug and do the best you can. Expect the worse. Don’t be too pleasantly surprised if something goes a little better than you anticipated. Neuter your emotions. Be a meh. Protect yourself beneath a million layers of untouchable, unfeeling, uncaring apathy.*
Our tear-stained joy is a sign to the world, to other believers, and to ourselves that we are more than conquerors through him who loves us
After all over one-third of the Psalms are songs of lament. But if you take a stroll through the Psalms you will see that they always lead us back to praise. They might take us through valley of the shadow of death but they remind us that we never walk there alone. The Psalms are heading somewhere with someone, a loving Shepherd.
The Psalms don’t mask the challenge of living in this messed up world. The Psalmist will ask things like why his soul is downcast (Psalm 42:5). It’s as if the Psalmist is genuinely perplexed that the promises of God haven’t automatically changed his outlook. Elsewhere, King David asked how long he must wrestle with his thoughts and experience sorrow in his heart (Psalm 13:2).
This sounds like a lot of meh, doesn’t it? These are not detached expressions of unhindered joy. But in the midst of these struggles, these temptations to give in, in the face of a meh world, the Psalms remind us that we were made for something more:
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
(Psalm 96 v 11-13)
This is a cue to our souls that while our hope may be covered in scratches and scars, it may be deferred for a painfully long amount of time, for the Christian, it is never undone.
Our tear-stained joy is a sign to the world, to other believers, and to ourselves that we are more than conquerors through him who loves us (Romans 8:37). What can seem to outsiders looking in to be a rather irrational gladness, it is for us an indescribable confidence that God’s promises are true.
And God has promised to return and restore goodness. This is an anchor for our souls in the midst of the Land of Meh. When God does come, he will judge the world in righteousness. At his coming, the sea will resound, the fields will be jubilant, the forest will sing for joy, and all of creation will rejoice. This future picture is enough to shake the meh right out of us.
So, deal honestly with the effects of sin in the world and in your own life. But don’t let them undo you. Be reminded, even if your heart fails you, God is greater than your heart (1 John 3:20). Don’t let cynicism grow unchecked in your heart like a kudzu vine. Use Scripture, use the Psalms, to defend your soul against the choke hold of cynicism. It’s just not in you to be a meh all the time.
God made you for more.
Dan's new book, Life in the Wild, is available for pre-order NOW and launches on 5/2/18
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*"Feeling meh" is a form of apathy. If you are suffering from low mood that lasts for a long time and affects daily life, you might be experiencing depression. Please speak to your Doctor and/or a trusted friend as well as seeking joy in God's promises.
Dan DeWitt is the Associate Professor of Apologetics & Applied Theology at Cedarville University, Ohio and Director of the Center for Biblical Apologetics & Public Christianity. He is the author of "Life in the Wild" and "The Friend Who Forgives". Dan and his wife, April, have four young children. Dan blogs regularly at theolatte.com
