The Birth Pains of Creation

It has been quite a struggle for me to convey the conviction of my heart to others regarding my stance on politics and the state of the world. “Why fret about it?” I say quite regularly as it seems that almost everyone around me gets so lost in the frustration of it all and in turn loses sight of what is really important. “We’re all doomed…” seems to be the general feeling of fear represented in their arguments—and not really just of my peers, but of the creation as a whole. It seems that we’re all screaming about the state of affairs rather than looking at the context or searching for meaning of it all. Everyone seems to assume that a corrupt and blinded government is to blame and that if people would just get their acts together, things could change drastically. Although I do believe that an overhaul could make a huge impact, I do not believe that it will answer the state of our world.

All around us the world seems to be falling apart. People are becoming more and more calloused every day, and as each shift of the second hand progresses more and more people are dying. Dying not of what is natural but of what is unnatural, unfathomable, unhuman. The only sense of peace in a country now-a-days lies in whether or not they hold tools of mass-destruction at their fingertips. Peace has become a blurry distortion of power. And I have to wonder if we even really remember what peace is, what is looks like, how it feels. Peace – can it thrive in our world? Or would it simply dissipate within any occurrence in which it tried to spread?

There seems to be more ridiculous decisions made each day by those in leadership. Most of us are wondering, “Where have all the true leaders gone?” We laugh condescendingly at their confused efforts at leading us, but deep down inside aren’t we all just scared that this person, who in all reality we know hardly anything about, might be leading us all into peril and destruction rather than progression? Fear. It’s what unfortunately drives us all—into conforming, into resenting, into uprisings, into seclusion, into blindness.

So what do we do about all this fear? It seems to be at the core of everything in our world today. Fear can lead to action – it’s up to us to decide whether or not that action is for good or for evil.

There is a war going on right now. Most of us have forgotten about that. This war is unlike any we have entered into in the history of the world. We fight against an enemy who attacks us blindly. We fight everyday overseas, yet have no comfort that we won’t be caught off-guard in our own territory. All the while, we go about our day to day lives as if nothing has changed. How dare a silly “war” interfere with our routine! We get enraged about the state of our government’s misgivings, and we run out of mental space to remember the things that matter most. When was the last time we really thought about those giving their lives for our “freedom”? People are dying. Lots of them. Why isn’t anyone paying attention? We surely wouldn’t want to miss our beloved “American Idol” for an update on the war. Maybe there’s a great symbolism to our most beloved show – maybe we’re idolizing more than we realize.

So, to me, there are things more important than the actual state of things themselves. You see, the one thing underlying every new crack and crumbling of this world and its systems is the growing apathy of creation. Have we become so numb that we can’t capacitate care and concern? Do we realize how blinded we have become?

The movie Matrix is the best representation of a distorted reality and its implications. I wonder, when will we begin caring more about unplugging those around us to the real reality? We wage a war not of flesh and blood (though that is rampant in society) but of spirit, of darkness and of light. And the most frightening thing is that people are becoming so entranced in the darkness that they can hardly even recognize the light anymore. We’ve got to unplug them from the Matrix of the enemy’s lies. Otherwise, the problems of this world will continue to grow, as they are destined to do, only we will stand alone on the day of reckoning and wonder how we became so misled as to leave the rest of the population behind.

We hold a light and a truth that the rest of the world needs.

That is far more important and pressing than whether or not our government made a manipulative or conniving decision. Deception is all around us. We live in a fallen world. There’s no stopping it. All we can do is make a decision to not allow ourselves to fall prey any longer.

So what do we do then about the devastation around us? Why should we have any hope in a world that is so full of evil and destruction? Is there a purpose?

Yes.

Have you ever had the opportunity to experience the journey of a wife, sister, or friend moving through the process of pregnancy and delivery? It changes them. No matter how bad you want to have a baby, once you are in fact pregnant, your mind goes through an array of emotions – and fears. What will the birth process be like? We all know that it will hurt. There’s no avoiding it. We can medicate and numb ourselves, but the pain still emerges. It must happen in order for the miracle of new life to complete itself. And there will be other, smaller yet still significant pains throughout the pregnancy. Whatever the circumstances, once you become pregnant there is no avoiding what will take place in the woman’s body. It is the natural process. As is the process that creation is experiencing even now:

“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” Romans 8:22-25

We can have hope in the pains of the world because they are the inevitable pains of the birthing process. We are a pregnant creation. God is enlarging within us his Kingdom. He’s preparing us – and everyone we can gather to come along – for the new place he’s prepared. And we must decide whether to turn our eyes toward that promise as fuel to spread his Kingdom or to remain stagnant, drowning in the despair of this passing world.

“That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead.” Romans 8:18-21

As soon as we reach all that can receive the Kingdom and salvation, God will arrive right on time.

It’s time we stopped fretting about the devastating events themselves, paralyzed, and begin realizing that they are necessary birth pangs – and begin to really work at preparing creation for the arrival of true change. Seek out the lost, the broken, the down-trodden, the desperate, the weak, and the forgotten and pull the cord from the enemy’s Matrix.

But don’t give up in the midst of seeing such evil in the world.
God is on his way.
And the enemy knows it.