GROANING DEEPLY, WE WAIT EAGERLY!

“We ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23).

OK, I’ll admit it. I’ll admit to you that one of the questions, perhaps the question with which I struggle the most, one for which I do not have an adequate answer, is this: “Why must innocent people suffer so much?”

As when someone’s dad snaps and shoots and kills the entire family. What did they do to deserve that? Or when a genocidal maniac ascends to a position of power and uses that power to destroy the masses? What did those dear people do to deserve a fate like that? Or when someone is killed by a drunk driver. What did the victim do to deserve that? Innocent people suffering at the hands of the guilty. Where is God in all of that?

Our common Christian response to that question is to suggest that the premise of the question is flawed. That in fact there are no “innocent” people in the world. That “Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” And that since we are all sinners – the dad and his wife and kids; the ruthless leader and his helpless victims; the drunk driver and his clear-headed traffic fatality – it’s somehow OK if life is unfair since no one – neither the oppressor nor the oppressed – deserves a fair shake.

Yes, it is true that we are all sinners. Yes, I understand that. Yes, I accept that. And yes, I readily acknowledge what theologians glibly call “The Total Depravity of Man” – the notion that we are all equally depraved, incurably corrupt. I get that.

But having gotten that, I for one reject out of hand the notion that the hunted deserve to fall prey to the hunter, that bullied deserve to be tormented by the bully, just because the hunted and the hunter, the bullied and the bully are equally sinful. It is not fair and it is not right that the – I’ll say it – innocent hunted and the innocent bullied deserve what they get. Life is unfair. And that’s not OK.

It’s not OK from my vantage point. And it’s not OK from all of Creation’s vantage point. Every molecule within this grand and glorious Universe of ours cringes even at the suggestion that life is unfair and that that it’s OK. And most importantly, it’s not OK from God’s vantage point.

Which is why Paul could write, “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 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.”

To which I say, “Yes!” Yes, we are groaning deeply. And yes, we are waiting eagerly. Yes, we will be released from the world of pain. Yes, He will right all the wrongs. Yes, He will make what is not OK OK. But not yet.

If you liked that, you’ll love this – this from the pen of Paul, written while unfairly sitting in a prison cell waiting to be unfairly executed the bloodthirsty Nero. “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.” To which I say, “Yes!” Yes, He will bring everything under His control. Yes, He will right all the wrongs. Yes, we will be released from the world of pain. Yes, He will make what is not OK OK. But not yet.

Even Peter, who would soon be unfairly crucified upside-down, understood that we are foreigners, strangers, pilgrims on this earth – those who journey throughout a land that is not their own, a visitor whose time is temporary. To which I say, “Yes!”

Yes, we will one day live forever in a place that will be our own. Where we are not temporary visitors but eternal citizens. Where the lion and the lamb – the predator and the prey – will lay down together. Where senseless violence will forever be but an echo of the past. Where we and our loved ones will dwell in absolute safety and security. Where innocent people will not suffer. Where we will be happy, healthy, and whole. Where God will wipe every tear from our eyes. Where there will be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain because all these things are gone forever. Yes, Christ’s kingdom will come. But not yet.

No doubt about it. Groaning deeply, we wait eagerly. To which I say, “Yes!”