I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 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. 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 to sonship, 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 they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Romans 8 v 18-25

Recently I wrote on the question that is asked at times like this – Why? With that in mind, I just wanted to add a brief additional thought to that pile.

There has been so much written on the subject of suffering, and I’m not going to rehash all that. Sometimes it seems like those discussions become recursive and end up eating themselves in frustration. I do not believe we are fully equipped to even ask the right questions, let alone to contain the answers. Yet.

But there will come a time.

In the Bible that time is equated with the coming of the ‘new heavens and earth’. And you will note, that is something that the whole creation strains towards, not just us erstwhile stewards.

Why is that? I cannot say, but this I will observe. What would we – knowing what we do about ourselves, wrapped in our own greed and fears – what would we have made of a creation that was as innocent and beautiful as the original Eden?

I submit we would have made of it a hell. And so perhaps the reason that the very creation itself was subjected to such futility was in order to protect and preserve it against and for the very stewards who were intended to care for and love it.

Subjected to futility….in order that it may partake in the same hope that we have…to be liberated and brought into the freedom and glory of the Children of God.

So, in the mix of beauty and pain that defines both creation and ourselves, there is Hope. This Hope has arms, legs, and a humanity that is transformed; the first fruit of all creation. He is the everything – the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Upon Him do all things hold, and He Is Sufficient.

This is the Gospel. This is our Testimony.