The Groaning of Creation

"We  know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now."            Romans 8:22

Two years ago, during prayer, my Mom got this word "The whole earth is groaning."

Looking around this world lately there is probably little doubt in any one's mind that something unprecedented (at least in our lifetimes) is going on. Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, tornadoes, floods, bizarre weather patterns throughout the earth, animal die-offs and the like. It's just not normal, hasn't been for years, and continues to get stranger and stranger. But why? Why is creation groaning?

Only God could give us a complete answer to this question but here is what we do know:

When humankind fell ...all creation fell with it. This is not only biblical (read Genesis and Romans 8 for example) but is also obvious to the human eye. Even animals and plants sicken, catch diseases and die. In other words - OUR sin affected the whole planet. What makes people think that this has changed? There is a definite correlation between sin and what happens here on earth. Cause and effect, you could say, though scientists wouldn't agree because they only look at the physical and fail to take into consideration the spiritual. Needless to say, many scientists are probably a bit baffled by the events taking place on earth. Perhaps not by the natural disasters themselves as by the sheer number of catastrophes taking place lately. It's not just  the increase natural disasters, there has been a phenomenal number of animal die-offs lately. I couldn't find a site with all the statistics up until May but check out this site and here too. These sites will give you a general picture of how serious this issue is getting.

We know the Lord is allowing these events to happen in our day and I believe a good portion of it is due to the amount of sin in the world. As sin increases and our spirits groan under the weight of it- so too does the earth and all creation groan with us and these disasters will continue until we turn away from sin and turn toward the Lord.

Call it what you will - purification, chastisement, divine correction....the signs are everywhere and it's up to us whether we heed them or not.