HOPE BEYOND OUR DISAPPOINTMENTS

I couldn’t even guess how many times over the years I’ve talked with people about the losses and pains and disappointments of their lives in this world. They talk about their lives “falling apart,” or “falling to pieces.” And I’ve found that there is one biblical passage I come back to more than any other when I think of offering some assurance. It is a kind of map of all of life, and within its edges are the promises of life beyond this life. But I mostly turn to it because it so accurately captures the truth that though this world is bound to corruption, God and his undying love are the stable core of life, and out of that love, God is one day going to remake this world, and remake us. Then there will be no more tears.
The passage is Romans, chapter 8:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 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 8:18-25, NIV).A suffering man wrote this, and he truly believed that a future glory was ahead that would make our sufferings in this world close up like a wound that doesn’t even leave a scar. Here is the honest assessment: the whole creation is frustrated by its bondage to decay. It is not just that human beings get divorced and get fired and get sick. Every living thing succumbs to decay. Every bird drops from the sky and every tree falls. Earthquakes crack the world. Drought burns the land. There is a certain unfortunate consistency here, so we are not to think that when we go through a hard time God is singling us out for special treatment. Yes, there may be a causal link in some forms of judgment, as when people put harmful drugs in their bodies or expose themselves to disease through sexual immorality. But many of our losses are not directly linked to particular mistakes and transgressions. We live in a diseased world. That may not be good news, but it is honest news, and it is the one explanation of life that is most consistently true.

And so “we groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption.” Oh, God. Oh, God. How long? It is a groaning that is not just an expression of pain, but of longing. That is why we say of a woman bearing a child that she is in labor, not that she is being tortured. It is pain toward an end, a spectacular end. And so the rest of creation joins with us in the groaning. But there is “eager expectation” here, and real hope.

[From Putting the Pieces Back Together: How Real Life and Real Faith Connect]