For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. Romans 8:21

Compassionate Father,

We who live in Western culture are keenly aware 

that we don’t suffer the way people in other cultures do—

we don’t have to search for healthy drinking water, 

we are rarely persecuted for our faith, 

our children have access to good health care.

And yet, that does not change the reality 

of the pain of living in a fallen world. 

Your Word is clear— 

creation has been groaning ever since the fall, 

“subjected to futility” (Rom. 8: 20). 

Daily, we fight futility—

we answer all the emails but soon find the inbox full again, 

we do all the laundry, but soon the baskets overflow again,

the children heal from one virus only to get a new one two weeks later. 

Though these are the “trivial” pains we suffer, 

they capture something of the futility 

we will always experience until Jesus comes again.  

Far less trivial are the pain and grief and sin and struggle 

that pervade our world. 

Your Word is clear—

none of us will escape suffering. 

Betrayal in relationships, 

bodies breaking down, 

abusive parents battering hearts…

These are the painful realities of living in a fallen world. 

And yet there may be hope. 

Your Word promises 

that through the everyday futility 

and the deeper anguish of life in a fallen world, 

you are healing and redeeming. 

We who are united to Christ 

are united to him in his sufferings, 

and in suffering with him, 

we will “also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:17). 

We who suffer now will not always suffer: 

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time 

are not worth comparing with the glory 

that is to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). 

Dear Father, may we draw near to you 

in the pain of living in a fallen world, 

trusting that you are writing your redemption story, 

and that one day, you will finish your restoration work. 

Romans 8:12-25.