These days had been very stressful for me. I know not everyone would understand, but some will, what it’s like to have a sick pet and not be able to do anything, just because it’s out of your hands.
Romeo, my cat for 7 years, a kind and tender cat, went through a period of illness; he couldn’t pee and had to be equipped with a urinary catheter so that his bladder can be emptied. While I was going through this process of seeing him and deciding, along with Pepe, what was best for him, even if it was to put him to sleep, I prayed to God to help him and not let him suffer any more, whether he died or lived.
The groan of creation
My friends and I are studying the book of Romans, we are now in chapter. While reading it I was amazed to see these verses:
[20] Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, [21] the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. [22] For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
This made me think that Romeo is part of that creation, his body also suffers, he groans with pain, God’s creation waits for us to be released from death.
At the same time, I was thinking about a very nice and humble pastor I met in Guadalajara who is going through severe cancer. God does things so differently than one would like, I have prayed so much to God to heal the pastor and, although there is progress, the cancer is not going away. He has pain, he also suffers, just as these verses say:
[23] And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
As we are part of his creation, we also suffer.
It was not always like this, it is the result of the sin in which we are born. Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed and now we are born in sin, with a body with imperfections, so susceptible to pain and disease, and our end is death. Going through these processes of pain is not very exciting, and yet we have hope:
[24] We were given this hope when we were saved.
We will be with Him
When we thought that everything was lost, Jesus came to give his life to rescue us. When we believe in the sacrifice He made in order to bring us closer to the Father, we have hope. The day will come when we will be restored, when we will live with Him, when we will not have to groan because of suffering, when we will be released from death because we have eternal life with Him.
I listen to this song now (at the end of this text) and it makes so much sense to me, its chorus is based on 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:
[16] For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died[h] will rise from their graves. [17] Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
And whether we die first or Jesus comes while we are still alive, we can be sure that we will be with Him, because, as Romans 8:18 says:
[18] Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
There is no more secure and peaceful place than with Him, and with Him we can expect a future without pain or suffering, totally free from sin.
Meanwhile, “My heart groans along with the earth, waiting for He who brings freedom. My thirsty spirit cries out in this desert and half way my journey it encourages me knowing: You will be back and among the clouds you will lift me up. I will wake up the day of your return, I will resurrect. I will meet you face to face, I will see you. I will wait, I will wait in faith.”
Based on Romans 8, New Living Translation.
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