Groaning for Glory
Learning to See the gift in Chronic pain
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison...
I have a close friend who suffers from chronic pain. You’d never know it if she didn’t tell you. If you didn’t know what to look for, you’d miss the shifting of her body weight, the almost imperceptible grimace, the pause to choose the chair which might cause the least amount of pain.
She wears a happy face nearly all the time. I don’t think it’s because she’s trying to hide the pain. She’s one of the most grateful people I know. She’s constantly counting God’s blessings and choosing a positive attitude.
But she is in a lot of pain! And she is not happy about that. She has tried everything under the sun to fix it, including asking God to take it away, but for right now, it doesn’t look like it’s God’s plan to bring her relief. And living with chronic pain is not easy.
The other day we were talking through how to find hope when the thing she was hoping for – finding a way to “fix” this – seems to have slipped through her grasp. I shared with her some scripture, and she asked me to share it with you.
I confess it is very humbling to write about this because I’ve never dealt with chronic pain. I haven’t suffered physically like she has, or like some of you have. But I write this at her request, hoping that the Word will bless you if you’re suffering, and also to encourage you if you are walking through suffering with a friend.
The Pain is Temporary
In that moment when my friend confessed she was struggling to find hope, the Lord led us to Romans 8:18-30. In this passage, Paul begins by talking about the suffering that we face in this life:
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
The sufferings we face today are temporary. Even if my sweet friend has to suffer pain the rest of her days on this earth (which I pray she doesn’t), even if that’s the case, this suffering is ultimately temporary.
And the thing which is coming after this physical pain, the “glory that will be revealed in us,” is going to be so good that this pain, which seems so big now, will seem so small that it won’t even be worth mentioning.
What kind of “glory” could shine so brightly that serious pain, sickness, and suffering don’t even compare? It must be a glory worth imagining, worth thinking about, so we continued to read…
This is Bigger than One Person’s Pain
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.
My friend isn’t the only one longing for the pain to be over. All of creation is waiting to be set free from this fallen state. Our bodies are wasting away and decaying (2 Corinthians 4:16), but so is all of creation. My friend is frustrated with her pain. I am frustrated with unanswered prayers on her behalf. And all of creation is frustrated, too.
But while creation has been subjected to decay, it has been subjected “in hope.” What is that hope? The hope is that the creation will be set free from this bondage one day.
When Adam and Eve sinned, death entered the world not only for mankind, but for all of creation. Jesus Christ came as the new Adam, to obey as Adam failed to obey, and to redeem all that was lost in the fall. (Genesis 3:17-18, Romans 5:18-19)
Our redemption in Jesus is not just a spiritual thing, it is a physical thing. Our sins have been forgiven because of Jesus’ shed blood on the cross, and by faith our souls will be saved from spiritual destruction. But Jesus will also one day redeem EVERYTHING that was lost in the fall, including the suffering of the creation and our physical bodies.
All of creation is longing for the complete consummation of our salvation because the day we finally step into this glory and are set free from these temporary sufferings will be the day the creation is set free from its bondage to decay as well.
Groaning for Glory
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.
Sometimes the pain of this life is a groaning pain. There is a longing for this waiting to be over that can only be expressed in groaning, like the groaning of childbirth.
Notice, it’s not the groaning of dying, but the groaning of a birth. The groaning of childbirth means there is something wonderful coming on the other side of the groaning.
What is the something wonderful on the other side of this pain? What is the glory to be revealed? It is the redemption of our physical bodies. These bodies which are causing us so much pain right now, will be shining with even more glory. My decaying body right now is not worth comparing to the glorious resurrection body that awaits me.
We already have the “firstfruits of the Spirit,” that spiritual taste of salvation that is so wonderful that it causes us to groan for this broken world to be redeemed. We have been purchased as sons of God, but we aren’t physically present yet with our Father. We know that we already belong to Him, yet we are waiting for the completion of this adoption.
Like our Brother and forerunner, who has already been resurrected from the dead, we live in the hope that our final adoption paperwork comes not only with the physical presence of God, but with a new resurrected body as well.
Hoping for the New Body
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.
It is this hope of a complete redemption – not just a spiritual redemption, but also the physical redemption of our bodies – which is the hope into which we were all saved. This is a real hope that belongs by right to every believer.
But now we get to the meaning of the word “hope.” “Hope” implies there is something we desire that we don’t yet have. We hope for our complete adoption because we don’t yet have it. We hope in the promise of that pain-free new body, but we still have to wait. And here is where my dear friend found the great blessing in her pain:
Because she suffers from chronic pain, there is not a day that goes by where she is not reminded that this body is not her real home. There is not a day that goes by where she doesn’t feel the brokenness of this creation in a very tangible way. She is not tempted, like the rest of us, to try to build for herself a little heaven on earth because her body reminds her every single day that this is not heaven. Instead, my sweet friend joins with all creation in groaning and groaning with eager expectation for Jesus to come back.
That pain that we keep praying away (and I WILL NOT STOP praying that pain away, Lord, have mercy!) – that pain is a gift. It is a daily reminder that whispers, “He is coming… He is coming… This is temporary… A new body is yours when He comes…”
So she waits for it, patiently. This pain gives her the longing for Jesus’ return that we all ought to have. And her invitation to enter in has helped me to long for it, too.
All Things Work for Good
At this point we were both in tears, and it was fitting that we go ahead and read the great promise that we both know by heart, because it rightfully follows in the text:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Yes, God is working this chronic pain for good in my friend’s life, as all who know her will attest. She is growing more lovely every day. She is growing in endurance, and patience, and self-control. She’s a model of kindness, gentleness, and love. She is pointing people to Jesus with her life, not in spite of her pain, but because of it.
I hope for my friend to be pain free. She wants that, too. But God showed us in His Word this week that the hope of a new body, the longing for Jesus to come back and redeem it all, that is a better hope by far. For as great as her suffering is in this life, it doesn’t hold a candle to the glory that is coming. I join with all creation in saying, I can’t wait to see her new body revealed.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Come. Our better hope by far is in You.
I find this post incredibly encouraging not only for your friend but for all of us. The world lies to us with promises of worry free, stress free, maintenance free living. It doesn’t exist as long as the 2nd law of thermodynamics holds true.
But as you rightly point out, the glory that awaits us with new bodies with our Savior and with the Church should fill us with incredible hope.
Thank you for stoking hope in all of us