Now at the end of the fourteen-day wedding celebration which Raguel had sworn to hold for his daughter, Tobiah went to him and said: "Please let me go, for I know that my father and mother do not believe they will ever see me again. So I beg you, father, let me go back to my father. I have already told you how I left him." Raguel said to Tobiah: "Stay, my child, stay with me. I am sending messengers to your father Tobit, and they will give him news of you." But Tobiah insisted, "No, I beg you to let me go back to my father." (Tobit 10:7-9)

There are philosophers who argue time is an illusion. There is much in this story to suggest that, at the very least, our sense of time-passing is different than that of God.

Tobit and Sarah are each in pain. They pray for relief. God responds. But God responds with an elaborate scheme that requires considerable time.

Tobiah is more sensitive to a human sense of time. Tobiah has allowed Raguel to fulfill his oath. Tobiah now feels an urgency to return to his father and mother.

I can readily accept that God is beyond time. Does this complicate God's ability to empathize with our sense of urgency? Perhaps.

Even more likely, it seems to me, is a difference between human and divine priorities. We are often distracted by what we perceive is urgent. God is attentive to what is important.

We seek definition: beginning and end, yes and no, black and white. Why would an infinite God place much value in such limitations?

The evidence suggests God gives greater priority to unfolding relationships, emergent meaning, a continuum of experience unconstrained by time.

Above is the Wedding Feast at Cana by Gerard David.