A Theology of Groaning

I’m reading a book called Jesus Driven Ministry. It’s by Ajith Fernando, the Youth For Christ director from Sri Lanka. He gives a very Scripture-based presentation of Jesus’ style of ministry which we should imitate.

One thing that struck me was when he wrote about how today’s church has a strong theology of the necessity for growth (although we don’t grow that much in the West!!), a strong theology of praise, and a strong theology of power. But, he says that those must be balanced with a theology of groaning. The term groaning is taken from Romans 8:23, “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

Earlier Paul wrote that because of the Fall, “the creation was subjected to futility.” (8:20) We, too, are subjected to futility – accidents, sickness, being disliked or hurt by others, etc. Even though we strive to be like Christ, we make mistakes and commit sin. As the author puts it, “Our thirst coming from the foretaste of heaven will clash with the reality of living in a fallen world, and the result is that we will groan sometimes.”

Groaning can coexist with praise. In fact, the Bible is full of groaning and complaints and laments. About 50 out of the 150 psalms are laments – raw, painful expressions of hurt and sorrow. I liked a quote by OT scholar Chris Wright, describing the biblical laments: “God, I am hurting; and, God, everyone else is laughing. And, God, You are not helping very much either; and how long is it going to go on?”

Groaning in the context of a fallen world is not only natural, it is to be expected. After all, the Spirit stays tuned in to our groaning, and Jesus Himself probably expressed His emotion that way more than once - for instance, in the Garden of Gethsemane. Complaints are the cries of those who believe that God is good, but cannot see this goodness in what they are currently experiencing. Their cries are “tinged with hope” and are an honest expression of struggle.

We do wrong when we do not allow one another to groan. Yes, we must groan with hope, but groaning is part of life on this side of heaven. We need a place where we can share honestly without facing rejection or reprimand by others for “not being good Christians.” If our Christian community cannot listen to our groans, it is evidence that there is a lack of understanding of grace. And, unless we have a theology of groaning, our faith will remain superficial.