Hope for Creation
“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
Romans 8:20-22
It amazes me how many of the songs I heard and sang in my church growing up that I can still remember. Some of them were meaningful for me. Others confused me. One particular song, “You shall Go out with Joy,” included the line: “And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” Being quite literally minded, this did not make sense to me. Trees don’t have hands, so how on Earth could they clap?! It concocted a rather strange cartoony image in my head of trees with human arms, dancing about.
Thankfully, I have long since come to understand that Scripture and life contain a lot of metaphors, symbolism and deeper meaning. While the line from that song comes from Isaiah 55:12, it is the verses above from Romans 8 that help me understand it.
God’s work of saving, rescuing and redeeming is not just about humankind: it is for all He has made, and it makes sense that the Author of all Creation would be interested in redeeming and reconciling the whole of that Creation to Himself. And He is! “For God so loved the world …” John 3:16 tells us. Romans 8 tells us of the ache in the world around us that things are not as they should be, that the created world is subject to the consequences of sin and bondage as we are. However, the promise of Revelation 21:1-3 holds true for the world as well: one day heaven will come to Earth. All pain will be healed and all will be made new — including the whole of creation.
The promise of God for His world gives me hope. It gives me hope when I’m all too aware of the groaning and bondage around me. God will fully liberate and heal. While things might seem hopeless, with God there is yet hope. And from the vantage point of that hope, I can begin to see why Isaiah 55 and that worship song from my youth are not as peculiar as they seemed. Trees may not have hands to clap, but they may also rejoice when the Lord comes and makes all things new.
