The Gift Of Groaning

The Gift of Groaning

I used to greet every new day by springing out of bed with ridiculous energy, but now my morning routine includes a minute or two of quiet groaning as I stretch and flex and coax my body into the movement the day will demand. When I lie back down at night, I groan myself into a position comfortable enough to welcome sleep.

I am coming to understand the longing with which the apostle Paul spoke when he said,

We know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling. . . . For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened.

2 Corinthians 5:1-2, 4, NASB

Perhaps more than any of his peers, Paul “got” groaning. He experienced the wear and tear of an itinerant preacher’s life, and he had the physical scars to prove it. No doubt he longed for a resilient, resurrected body like that of the risen Savior he followed. But he also longed for an entire world made new with the glory of redemption. “The whole creation has been groaning . . .” he insisted, “right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22, NIV).

But there is grace in every groan. Momentary light affliction is producing within us an eternal glory that outweighs any trouble we might experience in the here and now. We don’t lose heart, because in our waiting, we are becoming richer than we might have ever imagined.

I remember pain-free mornings with sharp longing. I have not abandoned the hope that I will experience them again. But I am learning to love my days bookended with groaning for the steady reminder that they give. My God is making all things new. Slowly. In his time. And whether he completes the change here or in the world to come, we must not lose heart. He is good, even when we groan.

With eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

Romans 8:20-21