Creation waits - speak God, we're listening

by Kadeen Edwards

     “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children 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 freedom and glory of the children of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭19‬-‭21‬

     All creation suffers because of the original sin. Sin fractured creation, bringing death, disease, injustice, and pain. Suffering exists because we live in a fallen world.

     It never occurred to me that all creation is suffering. However, this morning, when I read this chapter with new lenses, I understand that not only God’s people are subjected to suffering, but so are all of God’s creation. Living in a fallen world, we are sentenced to decay, but all creation was sentenced to decay. We are surrounded by death. Once saved, we are the living among the dead, once we were the dead, but now we are alive in Christ.

     There is evidence all around us of the sentence of death. We can see it every day: all creation, dying off slowly. Animals have become extinct, and plants are dying off. All of this suffering is not only imposed upon people, but all things… it says in scripture the Earth groans in eager expectation that means there’s still hope.

     The evidence of death is not only in the living things, but also in the environment. We see the environment changing: floods, tsunamis, storms. Everything is suffering. The only one who can change it is God. I love that he provided hope in the curse. Sin ruptured creation, causing death, disease, injustice, and pain, not just death for men, but all creation. Suffering exists because we live in a fallen world.

     “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  There is hope…even though we live in a fallen world. Where failure is, that's where redemption can begin." 
​