Sermons About Groaning
Going On In The Dark
Going On In The Dark (SERIES: Over the Rivers and Through The Providence -- The Psalms: Songs We Sing Along the Way) Psalm 88
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Are You Groaning For Glory?
As a music student at Palm Beach Atlantic University, I recall what the long time music professor Ray Robinson said during one of our Oratorio Chorus practices. He said, “Everything about music is about tension waiting to be resolved. Make sure you sing with that understanding — bring out the tension but really stress the resolving of that tension.” Sometimes, putting a matter in that type of frame really helps you understand the entire picture. We understand that as well. Suppose I sat at the piano and began playing, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” You would begin humming the tune or even singing the words, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord G —.” Now, if I stopped, there is that tension that works inside your spirit waiting for that resolution, waiting for it to be resolved. If I finished it out, “—od Almighty.” Or suppose I began a joke by saying, “A duck walks into a drug store and tells the man behind the counter … .” You are sitting there waiting for a tension to be resolved. So the way I resolve it is by finishing it up: “… and he says, ‘I’d like some chapstick — and put it on my bill.” Right now, we are living in a world of tension waiting for a resolution. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, King Solomon writes that God “has put eternity into man’s heart.” Our lives here on this earth, if we are honest with ourselves, are spent with an intense longing for something more, something greater, something lasting. As we read Romans 8:18-25, we see a longing and an expectation on two fronts: the created order and followers of Christ. In fact, you will notice that this particular longing is described as a “groaning”! Take a look: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [19] For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. [20] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope [21] that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. [22] For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. [23] And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. [24] For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? [25] But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. The word ‘groan’ (stenazw) refers to the expression of “a person who is caught in a dreadful situation and has no immediate prospect of deliverance.” There’s that tension we spoke of earlier — and amidst the tension of this world in our longing for the next, we await for the resolution to glory!
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