Thoughts From Romans 8 - Part 4

  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Rom.8:19-22

         Imagine being a Dodgers or Yankees or Alabama football fan. You would be use to winning. Being a Badger and Brewer fan, I can only dream of a championship. My contention is that when and if it happens, the joyous celebration that will be had by the fans will make the celebrations had in LA, NY, and Tuscaloosa look like Lutheran confirmation parties. We have a hope far more intense than any hope ever experienced by perennial winners because ours is based on suffering.

       I recently listened to an open air question and answer period where skeptics asked Christian panelists questions. One of the questions intrigued me and wasn’t answered well at all. Whereas the usual question is if God is all powerful and loving, why do people suffer, this person went beyond this and asked, “ If God is all knowing and all powerful, he would have known people would disobey Him so why didn’t He create a fallen world that didn’t include suffering of the innocent?” This question doesn’t impugn God’s omnipotence like the first one but rather questions His goodness. I wonder if the answer has to do with hope. If we didn’t have suffering, would we even hope for Heaven? Phillip Yancy in his book the Problem of Pain wrote that pain is a megaphone screaming that there is a better place coming. The earth is not our final destination.

         Cancer, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, birth defects, miscarriages all point to the fact that something is really broken down here. As we groan, let’s not lose hope but rather let it supercharge our hope for a new heaven and a new earth.