vv 22-23 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
Do you sense that the whole of creation is right now ‘groaning’? Storms and floods, bursting volcanoes and bush fires, hurricanes and nations hurling insults at each other – they all tell the sorry story of a creation straining at the bit and ready to be renewed.
Paul doesn’t exclude himself and other believers from these events. So if you are feeling the strain of recent lockdowns, CoVid symptoms and loneliness they are all part of the groaning we feel as we wait for the future glory that God has promised. We have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of this glorious future, but we still groan along with the whole of creation as we wait for the new bodies, and the renewed reality which God has in store for His creation.
This is God’s ultimate purpose for creation; He will not abandon it to eternal decay or destruction. There will be a new start with sin and corruption left behind, even new bodies for His children!
But for the present time don’t give up hope, you are still called to be good steward of all of God’s gifts in creation.
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