We groan, awaiting
Creation and us, longing
Paul names an ache that runs through the whole of creation and the heart of every believer: we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Even those who have tasted the Spirit, who have come far in the journey, still groan — still ache with longing for a completion that has not yet come.
This is important, because we might expect that spiritual maturity would end all longing and dissatisfaction. Paul says the opposite. The more of the Spirit we have tasted, the more we groan for the fullness still ahead; the firstfruits make us long for the harvest. The deep ache for redemption, for the renewal of all things, for the completion of what God has begun, is not a sign of immaturity but of the Spirit at work, stretching us toward home.
And we are not alone in the groaning. The whole creation, Paul says, groans together as in the pains of childbirth, waiting for the revealing of God's children. The longing we feel is part of a cosmic ache for renewal, a universe straining toward the glory to come. So do not despise the dissatisfaction, the homesickness, the sense that things are not yet as they should be. It is the groan of the Spirit within us and creation around us, and it is hope, not despair — the ache of those who wait, with patience, for what they do not yet see.
“We ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.”
— Paul, to the church at Rome — Romans 8:23 (WEB)
Receive your deep longing and dissatisfaction as the Spirit's groan drawing you home — hope, not despair — and wait for what you cannot yet see with patience.
“But if we hope for that which we don't see, we wait for it with patience.”
We assume that growth should leave us peaceably content, so the homesickness that will not quit gets filed as failure — proof we have not come as far as we hoped. The interior work is to grasp the strange logic Paul names, that the firstfruits of the Spirit make us ache all the more for the harvest, and so to read the deep longing for redemption not as a defect but as the Spirit himself stretching us toward home, a groan of hope shared with all creation.
This week, when you feel the ache that things are not yet as they should be, do not despise or numb it: receive it as the Spirit's groan drawing you home, and let it turn into patient, hopeful waiting for the redemption to come.
Despair would twist the holy ache into hopelessness, and distraction would numb it with lesser things, and either way the Spirit's groan stops drawing you home. But a soul that recognizes its longing as the Spirit reaching toward the redemption to come learns to wait with patience, and finds itself drawn ever homeward, past anything the world can offer to silence it.
We might expect spiritual maturity to end all longing and dissatisfaction — to arrive at a settled contentment with no further ache. Paul says the opposite: even those with the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly, waiting for the redemption still to come. The more of the Spirit we taste, the more we long for the fullness ahead; the firstfruits make us ache for the harvest.
This reframes the deep dissatisfaction and homesickness we feel. It is not a sign of immaturity or failure but the Spirit at work, stretching us toward home, and we groan together with a whole creation that aches for renewal like a woman in labor. So do not despise the sense that things are not yet as they should be, the longing for a completion you cannot yet see. It is the groan of hope, not despair — and Paul names the posture it calls for: if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. The ache itself is the Spirit drawing us home.
- Do I read my persistent longing as failure rather than the Spirit's work?
- Can I receive the ache for redemption as hope, not despair?
- Am I waiting for what I cannot yet see with patience?
Lord, I expect maturity to end my longing and read my dissatisfaction as failure. But even with the firstfruits of the Spirit I groan for the fullness ahead. Let the ache be hope, not despair — your Spirit drawing me home — and teach me to wait with patience for what I cannot yet see. Amen.