It’s April 2020. The United States and the world are in the midst of a pandemic that has changed the way people live and interact.
We know that. I point it out not to focus on it, but to set a context for a truth that needs to be shared. This truth will apply to our lives long after the virus has passed and combat a lie that is circulating.
I’m from Michigan and for us COVID-19 started getting real on March 11, when our governor declared a State of Emergency. Then, for those who hadn’t already started self-isolating, there was a second major shift on March 23 when we were told to “Stay Home, Stay Safe” and only leave our homes for life-sustaining needs until April 13. Maybe longer.
Like people often do, we searched for a way to cope with this bad news and change of plans. Someone, looking at the bright side, told us “We should be thankful; we all have more time now.”
More time with our families. More time to be home. More time to relax. More time to spring clean. More time to flood the internet with content that will keep people distracted from what is really going on. More time.
It’s a lovely thought, but it’s a lie.
More time? No.
The idea that “we all have more time now” as a result of our changed circumstances began to break down for me when my days got longer.
As I began working and taking classes completely online from home, rather than going into the office and the classroom, I noticed a lag in efficiency. Tasks that used to be easy required more patience and more steps. From home, there is no such thing as handing in a printed assignment or walking down to someone’s cubical to ask a question. Instead, there is converting documents to the right file type to match each professor’s needs and sending a Microsoft Teams message that may or may not catch a coworker at the right moment.
Next, I noticed a rise in expectations. Parents with kids became homeschool teachers, while working from home themselves. New deadlines for digital assignments from professors created a juggling act—this by 9 p.m. Tuesday, that by midnight Friday, the other one before the end of Sunday. More and more, people began sentences with “we need” and ended them with “by the end of the day” or “within 24 hours.”
On top of all this, I also noticed a digital bombardment. Everyone wanted to use their “extra time” to read a story online, sing a song for the public, start a new social media challenge, become TikTok famous, create online learning resources, and invite every social circle they know to a Zoom video call.
We all decided the virus was ours to manage, regardless of if our work really had anything to do with it. And healthcare workers? They knew any “extra time” anyone else was getting would be at their expense.
Our days? Numbered.
So, while working diligently through my own swollen schedule, I started wondering why it felt like God was giving me less time, when people around me were celebrating more time.
I remembered Psalm 90:12, which says “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” This verse has been on my heart this year and was part of the inspiration for my article A Prayer in the Desert last month. The writer, Moses, spends a lot of time in Psalm 90 talking about the brevity of life before he asks God to teach the Israelites to number their days.
It makes sense. Why would they number their days if their days were unlimited?
David also prayed similarly in Psalm 39:4–5 when he said “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah.”
The words of David in Psalm 139:16 expand this concept of numbered days, tracing them back to before he was born “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
God has clearly given us a set number of days.
Interestingly enough, there is also talk of more time, or a longer life, in the Bible. For example, Proverbs 9:10–11 states that by God and the fear of Him “your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.” And, of course, there is the commandment with a promise, reiterated in Ephesians 6:1–4, that ties a long life to a child’s obedience of his or her parents. Even in these verses, God is the giver of time and He does not allow it to be bought or sold.
This is where the truth comes in: in this time of lockdowns, canceled plans, and remote work or school, God is not giving us more time.
Our seasons? Temporary.
If God is not giving us more time during this pandemic, what is He giving us? He’s giving us a unique season within our numbered days, which has been part of His plan for history all along.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1–8, there is an excellent explanation of the many seasons we may face in our lifetime.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
Ecclesiastes 3:1–8
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
The part about “a time to refrain from embracing” really sounds like the season we’re going through right now. So does “a time to mourn” as we grieve the loss of lives to the outbreak, as well as the death of plans we made to spend time with loved ones, travel, have weddings, meet as a church body, and more. And the part about “and a time to heal”? I pray that will follow this season we’re in now.
While God is working in more ways than one, a realization we can glean from this is that He’s giving us a unique season. This season, like our days, is numbered. It will pass. It is not “more time to” but it is “a time to.”
I hope this is cause for a sigh of relief. A mindset of “more time” leads to more production and action, perhaps beyond our capacity. A mindset of “a time” leads to a renewed focus on the task at hand.
Instead of looking at this season as a “we all have more time now,” it could be better to think “this is a time to” and insert what work God has for us. Maybe that looks like saying “this is a time to grow closer as a family” or “this is a time to learn how to keep a heart of peace through a trial.” For healthcare workers, likely “this is a time to serve like Jesus served, with more room for sacrifice than ever before.”
Less time? No.
People are often pendulum swingers, so it is also important to remember that the other side of the “more time” coin, is also a lie. In other words, in this season we also do not have less time.
We may see others die and be seized with a terror, thinking their lives—and ours too—are being cut short. We may look at the expectations we have to produce more or to homeschool while working and feel hurried, like the day has suddenly shrunk to be 20 hours long instead of 24. These are lies.
The truth is that God foresaw this season and planned our lives accordingly. He is not caught off guard by this and He certainly does not owe us more days because of it. We aren’t even shortchanged.
When we are tempted to think of our time as less, we must also remember Psalm 139:16 and the other verses that affirm that God is the one who determines our time limits. Even as we number our days, we don’t know when to stop counting. He does.
One of the most beautiful passages in the whole Bible, Acts 17:26–27 is a reminder of God’s heart in all of this limiting of days.
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
Acts 17:26–27
God wants us to find Him. He is near, waiting for us. Our limited time is a gift meant to drive us back to the giver of time. And when we embrace Him, we are rewarded with a life after our life on earth. The words of John 3:16 have been used so often, but taken to heart so sparsely: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
In this season, I pray that instead of having an illusion of more time or less time, we would be reminded that our days are numbered and that God has created us for good works (Ephesians 2:10) that might look a little different than the works we did before. We are finding a new normal for now, but trusting that God is constant no matter how much our lives change.
Next Steps
- Pray and ask God to help you to number your days.
- Commit to speaking about your time in this season not as “more time” or “less time,” but as “a time” to do what God has specified for this season. Our words matter and are tied to our thoughts.
- Resist the urge to saturate this time with tasks from past seasons that need to be let go. Consider what God would have you do right now and do only that.
