(A letter to the Apostle Paul, reflecting on Romans 8:22-25)
Thank you, Paul, for acknowledging that the best of us groan.
Ours is not a shallow whining or complaining; but a deep, aching sorrow for the brokenness we face.
You have gently reminded us that the entire earth cries out for redemption – to
be bought back – to be restored – to be held in the hands of Jesus once and for all.
I remember, Paul, when you said we are pressed but not crushed.
In this jar of clay I call my body lives God Almighty.
When that pressing of life seems to be too strong for the walls I have sought to build around me, may I remember that the burden will not break me; for who can crush the infinite?
It is impossible that the pressure be too great for Jesus.
You said, Paul, we would be perplexed but never in despair.
I am perplexed. I am confused by many things.
By unanswered prayers – the ones that seem so right.
By the aching hearts of children in their innocence neglected.
By the aching heart of adults in their willfulness alienated.
By injustice – seeing some have and some have not.
By loneliness never wished for, never intended.
By broken bodies.
Bay daily battles with disease.
By the last and greatest enemy of the living – death.
By all these things, my dear friend, Paul, I am perplexed.
But I am not in despair.
There is one thing of which I am sure . . . God makes sense of confusion.
Confusion is . . . seeing the Son of God lie in the feeding trough of animals.
Confusion is . . . seeing the Light of the universe being rejected by the darkness of men.
Confusion is . . . seeing the Lord of all creation crushed on a cross.
Confusion is . . . seeing a rock roll over the tomb of the Author of life.
Does God make sense of confusion?
Did the Son of God, Light of the universe, Lord of all, and Author of life stay in the trough, in the darkness, on the cross, or in the tomb?
No! God took the confusion, balled it up in His hands, breathed mercy upon it, and threw it back to us as droplets of hope.
And wherever the droplets of hope find a home, God comes to live.
Does God make sense of confusion?
Will unanswered prayers be left misunderstood?
Will aching hearts always writhe in pain?
Will lonely people never share laughter?
Will broken bodies never be fixed?
Will death always be the final pain we face?
No. No. No. A thousand times over . . . no.
Paul, you said we groan. You said we cry inside waiting for redemption.
As sure as the sun rises, that day will come.
As your friend, Peter, said, this is our “living hope.”
Dipped inside my spirit is a droplet of hope from God’s own hand.
This hope tells me it will all make sense someday.
This hope tells me we will be reunited in the end.
This hope tells me that as Jesus really came out of the tomb, we really will, too.
This old, broken body so ready to sin will one day fly heavenward.
I groan now. That is the reality of a broken person and a broken world.
But I will not groan forever.
God has redeemed my spirit, Paul. My emotions and my body are just waiting to catch up.
“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 firstfruits 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.” – Romans 8:22-25 (NIV)