This Too Shall Pass

I was scrolling through social media and came across a clip of Tom Hanks, Jamie Fox, Adam Sandler and other actors around a table. Tom was imparting his wisdom to the group as they smiled and nodded. His life lesson, the nugget of most value that he would impart to them all is the realization of “This too shall pass”. If people hate you; this too shall pass. If you think you know it all; this too shall pass. Tom stated that “time is our ally”.

As I sat there listening to him and watching him, watching the others nod in agreement; I realized that it’s something I’ve heard many times before. At least in the south, it’s said so often many probably think it’s scripture. But it’s not. I would say the closest thing to this might be found in Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is an occasion for everything,

and a time for every activity under heaven:”.

“This too shall pass” - said by well-intentioned people as a means of offering hope to those who are hurting. “Time is our ally” they say to those who have suffered great loss. It is true the more distance one has between themselves and the event, the less present the event feels.

But what about the times it doesn’t pass? What about the times it surpasses you? What about the illness that your loved one succumbed to as the reason someone is telling you “This too shall pass?” As well-intentioned as they are, they’re asking you to hang your hope on the impersonal passing of time. But if the impersonal passing of time brought this suffering into your life there is no guarantee that there isn’t another horrific trauma directly in tow.

The routine minutes that pass like the ticking of a metronome. It’s not peace they offer you, just the well wishes that you’ll hurt less. This is the best a hopeless society can offer. In its own right, there is beauty in it. A poor man giving another beggar a moldy morsel of bread is still an act of compassion. Even as fallen creatures, we still show traces of our Maker.

The reality is you cannot rightly hope in the impersonal passing of time to heal your wounds. Because the truth is, some wounds just don't heal with time, they fester.

The truth is, naturally time is not our ally, but rather our enemy. We work against it from the time we are born. We race it from the moment we wake up. Every day ends with a bed time of accountability where we either accomplished what we should or didn’t.

There is a moment when the day is up.

There is a moment when this life as we know it is up.

So in a very real sense, yes, this too shall pass. And then what? If you spend your entire life waiting for time to heal you, if you pass your entire time here waiting on time to pass so the next thing can come and for it to pass; what happens when time stops passing for you?

Time is not our ally because it is appointed to man once to die and after this, judgment.

Seems bleak? It is bleak. No hope in this world. No hope after this world. The only thing we can do is hunker down, hope for the best hand time deals us and just repeat the mantra, “This too shall pass” until it all stops. It is no wonder the writer of Ecclesiastes cried, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!"

But thanks be to God! He entered time by becoming like His own creation in order to save them. The infinite, eternal, timeless God took on flesh. Declared and demonstrated to be the Son of God he healed wounds, freed those captive to demons, raised the dead, multiplied food, and commanded the elements. He stepped into time and, through his death,burial, and resurrection, made time and death (the point all time was leading us to) no longer our enemy but a friend.

Time still trudges on, leading each one of us to the point where time no longer passes for us on this side of the fescue. But for those who are resting in Jesus, time’s marching tune isn’t like a funeral dirge, but more akin to a Sousa march. Death is no longer an enemy we fear, but a friend we welcome. Oh death, where is your sting? Thanks be to God, Who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

“This too shall pass” in itself can offer no hope. “This too shall pass” because time passes. And “this too shall pass” until it stops passing. Like the boy with the magic thread that he could pull a bit out to pass over the parts of life he didn’t like, we are encouraged to just close our eyes and hang on as we tug on the magic thread of “this too shall pass”; only to look up and realize it’s all passed and we are at our end. We hung on to the passing of time as a temporary comfort to the present fear while it all the more speedily took us to our greatest fear; when we are out of thread and it’s no longer time that passes but us.

But we who are disciples of Jesus, we don’t sorrow as those who have no hope. We don’t hopelessly cling to a hopeless fact of “this too shall pass”. As children of God, we know that He works all things together for our good. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we do not fear for our God is with us. We do not cling hopelessly to the passing of time, with the found-less wish that the next thing that comes will permit us to come up for air. Our peace is not found in escaping the storm. Our peace is in the storm for our God is our peace and God is with us.

As Paul said, “In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” Because of Jesus, time is our ally. Because of Jesus “this too shall pass” brings a smile, not because we need the circumstances to be different, oh no! Rather with every passing moment, we are one moment closer to seeing our LORD. With each passing moment, it is one less moment the creation will spend groaning for the glorious freedom of God’s children. So if you’re a believer and you’re hunting for a biblical phrase for “this too shall pass” let me recommend Revelation 22:20b

“Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”