The Goodness of Our Finitude

In Job 34:32 Elihu commends to Job the prayer, “Teach me what I do not see.”  Kelly Kapic picks up on this theme with an essay, “COVID:  An Opportunity to Face Our Finitude” (pp. 14-17 in the latest issue of Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care).

Kapic looks closely at American culture.  “Narratives of growth, accumulation, and success have deeply shaped our imaginations and appetites, encouraging us to ‘have it all.’”  Common also is the assumption that we’re all autonomous individuals, and that connections to others are optional and are easily made or broken.  Thus, at the center of this vision is the isolated self.

According to Kapic, “we are constantly tempted to live in denial of the fact that we are finite creatures.”  And yet, if we’re willing to face up to this tendency, the present moment can be profoundly beneficial:  a global pandemic gives us a fresh oppor­tunity to see that our finitude is good.

“Finitude” is not specifically about death, but the human reality of living with limits.  “God designed human creatures with limits, and he called his needy and dependent creatures ‘good.’”  And that was before the fall and the intrusion of death into human experi­ence.  In fact, most of our limits have nothing to do with death.  But, Kapic adds, “Unfortunately, we have often pretended that we can ignore our creaturely limits.”  So we load up our lives with every kind of task and tech and distraction—more, more, more.

Christians included.  Many of us are plagued by all that we’re not doing, not accomplishing—gotta do more for God! Then come Covid lockdowns forcing us radically to slow down, but also bringing “a rare opportunity for us to examine our lives.”  And to see the goodness of our finitude!  Our God is always up to good things:  “We can and should use COVID as an unexpected oppor­tunity to acknowledge and even embrace our limits as a healthy and good aspect of being truly and faithfully human.”

Kapic concludes with a word to the wise:  “Maybe God doesn’t expect us to get so much done every day. Maybe God doesn’t want our kids to participate in endless organized activities or our teenagers to work from 7:30 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. every day. Maybe God is okay that I am not the strongest, brightest, or most beautiful person. Maybe God made me to be me, a particular, limited, joyful, dependent human creature. My task before God, others, and the creation is not to do everything but simply to be faithful. Learning to be faithful often requires that we say “no,” that we do less, that we relearn humane rhythms and expecta­tions. Resetting our expectations to a more godly, patient focus can teach us a more faithful walk in which we can also point the watching world to a good Creator who loves us enough to let us be what we are:  finite creatures.”

Are you willing to be still before the Lord, and to come continually to Jesus for rest (Psalm 46:10; Matthew 11:28)?  To be sure, God gives us work to do; even in the Garden it was good for our first parents to till and keep the land (Genesis 2:15).  The Lord gave us his Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) and Great Commission (28:18-20), and he expects us to get to work on this vital tasks.  But we must always work in a restful, dependent, contented kind of way, aware of our limits and leaving the final results to God:  “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).  “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).