Groaning
Paul talks about three kinds of groaning:
- Creation Groans. If humankind's rebellion against God was the nuclear explosion then the brokenness in our world is the fallout. Natural disasters, disease, drought, famine, earthquakes, floods - these are all the after-effects of the sin of humankind. Creation was created good and while it is now subject to the wages of our sin, there will come a time when creation will be restored.
- We Groans. When we see the effects of our brokenness - when we suffer or we see others suffer, we groan. Instinctively we rebel at the incongruity of death and suffering, somehow knowing that there is more to it than this. Somehow we know that there is something greater coming, but it is not here yet! So we groan...
- The Spirit Groans. Did you know that you are a prayed in, prayed for, prayed through person? The Holy Spirit who lives in us is praying 24/7x365.25 for us lifting us to God. Especially when we suffer. It is He who asks the Father to strengthen, renew, and restore us in the midst of our struggles. And the Spirit's prayers are gut-felt, compassionate and earnest. He groans with us and for us!
None of this groaning is in vain: Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
| I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans8:18-27) |
