Groaning

"I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies."
-Romans 8:18-23

All creation groans in expectation of the revelation of the glory of man. That includes us. Our longings for others and for ourselves is a longing for the revelation of the glory of God in man. When we grieve the absence of some quality of being within another or ourselves we are in fact grieving the absence of that glory. When confronted with some great natural wonder or beauty in nature we feel awe and wonder to be sure but if beneath it all we feel a subtle sorrow a subtle ache for that which we know not we are longing for His glory. When high accomplishments and long realized goals fill us with exuberance and joy within, when the great joy of receiving what we really wanted still holds a barely perceptible ache of dissatisfaction a nameless disappointment we are in fact longing for the glory of God.

We were created to long for it.  To look for it. To expect it. Our disappointment reveals our deepest longing, as well as our truest design. Ours is a holy discontent.

It is our disappointments rather than our joys that point to His glory..for all disappointment is at root disappointed desire. This is the core desire for God. We see Him less in wealth than in poverty, less in strength than weakness, less in satisfaction than dissatisfaction, less in wholeness than brokenness. He is near the brokenhearted. He is near the outcast. He is near the orphan. He is near the widow. He is near the outcast. He is revealed to the poor in spirit. He is near the sorrowful. He is near the broken and contrite heart. 

He calls through our quintessential disappointments. When from a sea of disappointment, from a world where even the very best it can offers is not enough, one hears the call, the sure invitation of that which they most long for, a calling towards that which beneath all desires is most desired..the effect is one of joy. There is a and sweet sorrowful joy more satisfying than any pleasure and more enduring than any pain. It is the call of the Beloved and our hearts leap. It is the call of our Beloved heard not in tones of earthy satisfaction and satiation but in the enduring, persistent, dissatisfaction with the very best life has to offer. 

As Lewis put it. "When I find in myself a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy it must be that I was created for another world entirely." 

It was also the sweet revelation of the psalmist who with a deep abiding dissatisfaction with all else this world could offer discovered a singular longing for the One who alone can satisfy. You can hear his desperate joy filled longing in these words.. 

Psalm 73:21-28 NIV

When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, [22] I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. [23] Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. [24] You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. [25] Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. [26] My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. [27] Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. [28] But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

We see Him not in our satisfaction, but dissatisfactions. Not in our fullness but our poverty. Not in our pleasures but our disappointments. It is the call of the redeemed. It is the call of the Beloved. And our hearts rejoice at the sound of His voice.