The View From Here

• There are times when you are out of breath and must rest.

• There are times when the trail is treacherous and you need a helping hand from a fellow traveler.

But something deep within keeps telling you it’s worth it – take the next step! And once the journey reaches its peak … well … Romans 8 calls it “glory” doesn’t it?

But did you notice that glory was linked with suffering? Sometimes we don’t equate the two; we don’t count the cost. We assume the two are conflicting – juxtaposed to each other – but truth be told, they are inseparably linked.

We have had a couple of babies born in our parish this month. Now my 52 years on this planet have taught me that those little miracles of life came at a price. They came with risk and … “suffering.”

Four times Paul talks about suffering in this passage – three of those times he uses the graphic word “groan.”

• 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

• 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

• 23 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.

• 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

Paul was not one to paint rosy, futuristic pictures void of present reality. He is sometimes brutally honest about the cost of “glory.” In no uncertain terms he shares the consequences of humanity’s sin. Sin brings brokenness, pain, death, and decay; not only to ourselves but to our world. In the picturesque, poetic language of Romans 8 he envisions all of creation longing for redemption’s completion.

Human longing is graphically conveyed isn’t it? The longing is so deep and visceral that we do not even know how to tell God about it. We just don’t have the words.

But even though Paul paints realistic pictures. He is no pessimist. He does not envision a hopeless scenario so many other do. H.G. Wells once said, “Man, who began in a cave behind a windbreak will end in the disease-soaked ruins of a slum.” Not so Paul; He saw human sin and the state of the world, he saw suffering; but he also saw God’s redeeming power … hope would materialize into reality.

Suffering? Yes.

A damaged world? Yes.

Groaning so deep we do not have the words? Yes.

But not despair. No … there was an “eager expectation” of a re-creation.

Verse 19 speaks of this “eager expectation.” The word used is descriptive of the stance someone takes as they scan the horizon with head thrust forward, eagerly searching for the first signs of dawn’s break … the daybreak of glory.