Internal clocks are amazing examples of God’s providential care for his creation. One recent study showed embryonic “clocks” in chickens function like a construction schedule for the formation of their bodies.¹ Another study indicated that plants are able to communicate and synchronize their internal clocks in remarkable ways.²

Recent reports have discussed the effect of the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying shutdowns on human internal clocks. An article by Harmeet Kaur, posted on CNN.com, attributed difficulty keeping track of time to disrupted routines, multitasking, and stress.³ Each of these factors has increased as a result of COVID-19 and attempts to combat it.

According to Fox News, psychotherapist Dr. Kathryn Smerling encouraged people to maintain a sense of routine.⁴ She suggested continuing to perform ordinary tasks such as dressing for work, even while working from home. While she did not explicitly connect such actions to maintaining a sense of time, she did associate them with a cognitive distinction between work and relaxation.

Why do creatures have an innate sense of time? CNN appears to have no answer. Kaur believes that time itself is an illusion, a conclusion that she reached because there are multiple ways of counting the passage of time.^1,5

Time is central to ICR’s mission and purpose. We hold that “The physical universe of space, time, matter, and energy has not always existed but was supernaturally created by a transcendent personal Creator who alone has existed from eternity,” and “All things in the universe were created and made by God in the six literal days of the creation week described in Genesis 1:1–2:3, and confirmed in Exodus 20:8-11.”⁶

If God could not accurately communicate information about time, then ICR would have no reason to exist. In fact, there would be no reason for any scientific organization to exist if human observations were not basically reliable, an idea which stems from the Christian worldview.⁷ This includes our observations about time.

Although God does not experience time in the same way that people do, He always expresses time accurately in a way that people can understand.⁸

The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated His confidence in the temporal information found in God’s Word by quoting Exodus 3:6. Long after Abraham’s death, God said, “I am the God of Abraham,” indicating that Abraham’s spirit lived on and that God would one day raise him from the dead.⁹

ICR demonstrates our confidence in the accuracy of the temporal data found in the Word of God by using Scripture’s chronological information to calculate the age of the earth. Using the information found in the Hebrew Old Testament, we can conclude that Abraham was born less than 2,000 after creation, making the earth just over 6,000 years old.¹⁰

Next time you find yourself wondering, “Is it Tuesday or Wednesday?” Remember the ability to measure time is a gift from our Creator.

References
1. Guliuzza, R. J. Embryonic 'Clocks' Mimic Human Construction Schedules. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org February 13, 2020, accessed April 29, 2020.
2. Tomkins, J. P. 2020. Clock Synchronization in Plants Shows Divine Engineering. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org February 13, 2020, accessed April 29, 2020.
3. Kaur, H. The Pandemic Is Messing With Our Concept of Time. CNN. Posted on cnn.com April 28, 2020, accessed April 29, 2020.
4. Deabler, A. 2020. Why You Should Still Get Dressed While Working From Home. Fox News. Posted on foxnews.com April 29, 2020, accessed April 29, 2020.
5. Kaur, H. When Does The Decade Begin And End Anyway? CNN. Posted on cnn.com December 28, 2019, accessed April 29, 2020.
6. Core Principles. Institute for Creation Research. Posted on ICR.org, accessed April 30, 2020.
7. Hebert, J. 2016. How Theology Informs Science. Acts & Facts. 45 (5).
8. Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8.
9. Matthew 22:31-32.
10. Johnson, J. J. S. 2008. How Young Is the Earth? Applying Simple Math to Data in Genesis. Acts & Facts. 37 (10): 4.

*Will Perry is an Event Coordinator at the Institute for Creation Research.