Romans 8:19-22

“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.”

Wherever you are today, you can learn a lesson by observing creation. On your way to work at a stop light, you can look into a field or at the weeds growing up through the concrete and discover a message from God. You can consider the cloud-covered sky or the beautiful sunrise and learn a valuable lesson for your soul. The creation—God’s creation—teaches us much about our spiritual lives.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. Do you? Do you have the wisdom and expectation that creation has? It waits for God to finish His work of redemption that will reveal His true spiritual children. Creation knows that the harsh realities of this world are not all there is. It is eagerly waiting for something better. The storms and violence let on that this is not what we were created for. We were made for so much more than this. The passage says that creation does not wait in dull dread, rather in eager expectation. Creation is eager for God to set things right. We are all waiting for God’s further revelation, either from a prison cell or in eager expectation.

The creation did not choose to be plagued by thorns and thistles. The creation did not sin in any way to cause the unrest that exists in the ecosystem. My dog and cat don’t fight because of sinful choices they have made but because of God’s will. If God willed the creation to be subject to decay, there is a good reason. Of course the good reason is for us. What if we lived in the world the way God created it to be in our sinful condition? We would make the perfect world our God. We would settle for what we could see and enjoy. God calls us to relationship with Himself, not His creation alone! He wills better for us.

The creation remains in bondage to its decay even now in the kingdom age, but I don’t. I have been set free in the glorious freedom of Jesus’ victory over sin. While the creation waits for me and others to be revealed as God’s children, I can start the redemption process today each time I allow the Holy Spirit to fill me with His love, forgiveness, and power. Today my world is glorious freedom. I am free to love and be loved because of Christ.

The creation groans because it knows it was not created to be this way. It will keep on groaning while it waits eagerly until all who will give their minds, wills and emotions over to God and believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior so they will become the true children of God. Do you have the wisdom of creation?