Read Romans 8:19-25
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.
Henri Nouwen writes this:
“When we think of oceans and mountains, forests and deserts, trees, plants and animals, the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the galaxies, as God’s creation, waiting eagerly to be “brought into the same glorious freedom as the children of God” (Roman 8:21), we can only stand in awe of God’s majesty and God’s all-embracing plan of salvation. It is not just we, human beings, who wait for salvation in the midst of our suffering; all of creation groans and moans with us longing to reach its full freedom.
In this way we are indeed brothers and sisters not only of all other men and women in the world but also of all that surrounds us. Yes, we have to love the fields full of wheat, the snowcapped mountains, the roaring seas, the wild and tame animals, the huge redwoods, and the little daisies. Everything in creation belongs, with us, to the large family of God.”
God’s plan right from the start was to bring redemption, salvation, and restoration through Jesus. We can see that plan brilliantly displayed in scripture and played out in nature and in our own lives. I love the perspective these verses offer us, that all of God’s creation waits with hope for the fullness of God and the fruition of His plan, in the return of Jesus to rule and reign – creation fully restored – with those who put their trust in Him forever!
“Everything in creation belongs, with us, to the large family of God.”
(Henri Nouwen Society Daily Meditation from Bread for the Journey by Henri Nouwen © 1997)
