“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Romans 8:22
July 10, 2023
Summers of long ago are no longer the same. In the evenings the woods were once filled with the soothing sounds of the whippoorwills. Hundreds of them. No more. The streets and yards abounded with thousands of fireflies. We called them lightning bugs. No more. They are gone. That “otherworldly glow that signaled the start of summer” is only a memory. We are told that fireflies and other insects of all sorts are vanishing. Reasons are given such as modern life’s erasures of increased artificial light at night and paved over soil. But the memories can take us to the future. The future glory of believers will be the occasion for the restoration of a ruined creation. Creation groans under the weight of the curse of death because of sin. The famous creationist, Henry Morris, tells us that “Everything tends to decay, running down from a created state of organized complexity to one of randomness and disorganized chaos. . . .the exact converse of the notion of evolution.” One day creation is going to be restored and renewed to a beauty that will be breathtaking. We live with the mental contrast of this present dying nature and personal suffering and future glory. I stepped outside and counted a few lightning bugs and reminisced. Stay hopeful, Christian, stay hopeful as we eagerly wait for the redemption of our bodies. That is what nature is waiting on.
H