Groans.

A dad hears the groans of his children just after he expresses himself with a classic “dad joke.” College students release a cascade of laments when the professor announces a pop quiz. Your neighbor's youngest son is moaning in agony after crashing his new bike into the side of the garage. Groaning and sighs of anguish are a part of the human existence and often they communicate great agony. Their discomfort is not a welcome component.

How can a follower of Jesus be a faithful witness in this world when suffering and groaning is also part of what we deal with on this planet? How is a believer supposed to address challenges and difficulties, sorrows and distress?

The apostle Paul is offering us hope in the words of Romans 8. But first he makes it clear that groaning is simply a part of our corporeality. “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23). Creation has been groaning since the outcome of Genesis 3. Babies have been crying and lovers have been lamenting the loss of someone close to them since the very beginning. Hard times are simply a part of life on a broken planet.

But the hope that Paul stirs up in the Christian soul is beyond a simple repair job. Jesus came for redemption and rebuilding all brokenness. The process through which we are marching now is riddled with pain but that agony signifies a new life beyond, just as the discomfort of childbirth signifies that a human life is going to emerge from the womb.

This has a future hope for our encouragement: pain, suffering, broken lives and hurts will have their end. Heaven will be a glorious place of eternal non-suffering. Groans will be an ancient, distant memory. Tears will be wiped away and life’s pursuits will be undaunted by trouble. There will be no more groans.

There is one more note that Paul makes for us which can be a part of how we cope with hard times. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Paul offers us a tool for making it through the groans and pains of earthly existence. He tells us to consider them or count them. The Greek word involves a reckoning or a tabulation of the difficulties. God wants us to count them up or stack them figuratively on the table so that we can quantify them somehow.

As oversized and dreadful as adversities do get, we have a comparison to make. They cannot come even close to the overwhelming enormity of the glory that will be revealed in us when we transfer to our eternal dwellings. One pound of suffering will be overshadowed by one ton of eternal glory. A dose of extreme pain will have thousands of times more glory that will obliterate the hurt.

This does two things for us: First, it recognizes that pain, suffering, loss and groaning is real. It is normal and expected. But God will eternally replace them with even greater glory. The second blessing is that we have a way to work through the pain, knowing that there will be a much brighter future for us. This gives us hope and something to look forward to. We all need that.

Blessings to all of you, whether you are in the middle of a time of suffering or whether it is smooth sailing for a time! All this has been revealed to us (Romans 8) so that we are not surprised and so that we can appropriately cope with the difficulties of this world.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:18-25).