A Whole Lot a Groaning Going On

A Whole Lot a Groaning Going On

ROMANS 8:20 – 23, 26 - 27

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 

21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

   First, the whole of creation groans and suffers pains of childbirth.  When Adam fell, sin entered the world.  Before the fall of Adam and Eve, the world was perfect – like a garden.  We can only imagine how nice it would be to live in a perfect world.  Imagine   perfect weather, perfect temperatures, no rain or snow, no earthquakes, no volcanoes, no tornadoes or hurricanes.  But after Adam and Eve’s sin things changed.  Sin grew and spread until the days of Noah.  God ended life on this world except for the eight people and the animals on the ark.  He did this by flooding the world which geological evidence shows damaged the earth grievously.  And it still suffers damage to this day.  We see storms, earthquakes and other natural disasters which cause wide-spread destruction.  So creation itself is waiting for redemption from the curse of sin and renewal when God will replace this damaged world with a new heaven and a new earth.  The world will be returned to its original, garden-like state.

   Next, we groan for a couple of reasons.  First, we live in a sinful world which causes us an inward pain in our souls.  Or, at least it should.  Christians should never be comfortable living with sin around them, but the reality of life is that we have to live with sin around us.  It permeates the world we live in and shows up in every part of society.  The sin we see around us should bother us enough and lead us to pray for our friends, neighbors, and family members who are unsaved.  We should never accept sin or rest until we spread the Gospel to anyone who will listen.

   Next, we groan because we know we ourselves are not yet fully grown into the Kingdom of God and that should also trouble our souls.  I know how imperfect I am before God and often find myself praying and suddenly sorrow floods my heart.  I cry out to God asking Him to forgive me my sins and help me grow more like Christ.  One thing that really troubles my heart, however, is how often I don’t feel that way.  It scares me that I can go days without asking forgiveness for my shortcomings before God.

      Lastly, the Holy Spirit groans for us. He intercedes for us here on earth in our times of trials and troubles.  There will come times in our lives when we won’t know how to pray for something.  This is where praying in the spirit comes to our aid.  The Holy Spirit will pray for us and help us in our prayers.  Just imagine!  We have the Holy Spirit, and remember He is a part of the Godhead and has a personality and is not an “it,” interceding for us to God the Father.  Also, we have Jesus, our Lord and Savior, as our Advocate with God the Father. With the Holy Spirit delivering the prayer request for us and Jesus advocating to God for us we have confidence that God will hear our prayer.

   Another reason the Holy Spirit groans for us is that He lives in us and experiences what we experience and feels the pain we feel.  He groans with us over the sin of the world and pain we see others suffer.  He knows how we feel and sympathizes with us, and if we will ask Him to, He will give us peace and calm our fears and heal our hurts. 

Stephen Cram                                                  September 14, 2014                 

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ. 

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.