JMD Devotional 223 Romans 8:19-21 Blessed Frustration

For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship]. For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it--[yet] with the hope that nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God's children.

I remember the epiphany that seized me as a teenager when I first read Romans 8:20 in a modern translation. The words, “for the creation was subjected to frustration,” stuck hard in my mind. I was frustrated and disappointed with the world I saw: the pain and dysfunction, the hypocrisy of adults, the obvious traps associated with every alluring temptation be it sex, drugs, stealing or gaining the admiration of my peers by being bad. I knew incredibly intelligent people who were dumb and blind when it came to spiritual things, and I saw apparently ungifted ministers earning a paycheck. My intuitive leap was that EVERYTHING short of God Himself would disappoint and fail to fulfill my deepest longings. Depravity inclines us to try everything else under the sun when only God will satisfy. Sensing frustration is a gift just as hunger is a blessing when it drives us to seek the essentials.

Dear God,
In my ignorance I have wished not to feel anything unpleasant; but pain does me a favor by telling me something’s wrong. Sorrow tells me I lost something. Loneliness tells me that I am not being a friend to others. Frustration and anger are clues that I am going about the business of life in the wrong way or with the wrong attitude. Ignorance is not bliss---thank You for giving me the truth, even when it is hard to bear. The way that seems right to this (and every other) man leads to death: please keep challenging me with Your Way. I am sorry for resenting it when You show me that my way doesn’t work. I am depending on You to bring goodness and to bless me through all of life’s disappointments and frustrations, because You are my God, my Redeemer, ‘the lifter of my head’, my Friend.
Amen

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