Perhaps you’ve heard a preacher, teacher or fellow Christian make this statement after they encountered some trouble, difficulty or inconvenience or after hearing that a friend experienced some critical miscalculation or setback, “Well, the Bible says ‘This too shall pass’.”

In fact, no such exact saying can be found in the Bible. There is a legend concerning this quote contained in the story of a Persian ruler around 1200 AD who called his wise men together, including the Sufi poet Attar of Nishapur, and asked them for one quote that would be appropriate at all times and in all situations. The wise men consulted with one another, and spent hours in deep contemplation, and finally came up with the answer … “this too, shall pass.” The ruler was so impressed by the quote that he had it inscribed on a ring.

It also became a proverb that people begin to apply to all material and physical conditions, whether they were good or bad, to show that all things are transient. Nevertheless, it is a curious thought if perhaps these Persian sages may have heard about or seen the writings of Paul of Tarsus, the articulate and very famous Christian scholar, where in one of his letters to the believers living in Corinth he had this to say: “We may have troubles, but only for a little while.”¹ In other words, the things we experience in this world last only a short time, and then they too shall pass.

When I lived in North and South Dakota, each time we received 3, 4 or 5 feet of snow, and I was shoveling out the driveway and the sidewalks around the parsonage and the church, this was a helpful thought: This too, shall pass. But here’s an interesting fact. According to the speculation of some evolution scientists, the earliest ancestor of modern humans came into being some 200,000 years ago, and the oldest known objects made by this branch of homo sapiens are arrowheads found in the South African Sibudu Cave, dug up from under layers of sediment up to 100,000 years old. The arrowheads contained glue traces made of a plant-based resin, and archaeologists believe the adhesive was used to fasten the arrowheads on to wooden shafts.

Meanwhile, much of God’s age old handiwork can be seen in the mountains, rivers and seas here on earth, and others that glitter in the universe of which our planet is a minuscule part. They continue to sparkle after billions and billions of years in existence. So when it comes to things made by man, they too shall pass. But when we think of God, those things are designed to last forever, or until He gets through with them after they have served their purpose.

But let’s look at what Paul says following this that really should catch our attention. He writes: “These troubles are helping us gain an eternal glory. That eternal glory is much greater than our troubles. So we think about what we cannot see, not what we see. What we see lasts only a short time, and what we cannot see will last forever.”² So when we compare our peccadilloes such as awful habits or faulty thinking; missed opportunities or bad timing; being wrong at the wrong time or coming up short at the worst moment; or even miscues and slip-ups to God’s faithfulness and everlasting promises, then it is not out of line to say: this too, shall pass.