Inward Groanings

About six months ago, my daughter-in-law rescued and adopted an abused dog.  "Dottie" had been the victim of a hoarder/breeder; she had spent her entire life in a wire cage, having one litter after another.  When my daughter-in-law found her, she had been rescued from that situation, but she was a trembling mass of fears and anxieties.  She had never been socialized; she feared people; she had heart-worms, and did not feel well -- so everything was a threat to her. 

Today, after six months of intensive work, Dottie is a "new creature."  Though she still will not venture off the front porch, she no longer hides from strangers, but cautiously approaches to be petted.  She is healthy once again, and even looks like a different dog.  She may never entirely overcome the inward results of her earlier life, but where she is today is a far cry from where she was 6 months ago.  If there are no strangers in the house, she may even be called "a happy puppy." 

There are many things perhaps Dottie will never do -- she may never be able to go for a walk or run in the dog park with other dogs, since she refuses to leave the front porch.  When I see her cowering by the front door --- even getting her outside was a major accomplishment -- I think, "I just wish I could get inside her soul and comfort (strengthen) her from within."  No matter how many times we tell Dottie that "it's okay," her soul is so scarred as to be almost impervious to new experiences.

On the human level, we have all been scarred by sin -- our own and that of others toward us.  For some, the scarring has been so great as to shut down the efforts of God and other people to reach us.  I recall after a good friend committed suicide, thinking, "if only I could have helped him."  But then someone sent me a card with God saying, "I couldn't reach him either."  From the outside, we are limited in our efforts to "repair the damage" to the soul of others -- and even to ourselves, for that matter.  There are scars too deep to be healed from without: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as son, the redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8:23).

During His earthly life, Jesus, just like us, was limited in His ability to reach into the souls of others and heal them. He healed their bodies and forgave their sins, but He was as dependent as we are on words and 'signs' to move the hearts of others.  Though I would have to re-read all the Gospels to find it, I think somewhere it is written that Jesus "groaned within Himself" before healing a blind man.  When He saw the grief of Mary and Martha at their brother's death, He "groaned inwardly" and was disturbed in spirit -- and He wept.

In the Book of Exodus, we read, The Israelites groaned in the slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.  God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them (2:23).

The Israelites were delivered from their slavery, but their hearts were not touched:  Instead, they rejected Him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.  They told Aaron, "Make us gods who will go before us" (Acts 7:39).  One has to wonder if the 9 lepers who never returned to Jesus were delivered bodily, but not in spirit, in the same way.

After His resurrection, Jesus was able to enter from within, "even though the doors were locked" and heal or open from the inside:  Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).  After Pentecost, He enters into all who will receive Him, "groaning with unutterable words" (Romans 8) within us until we be delivered from all that inhibits our new birth in the Spirit. 

The Good News is that, under the New Covenant, God can and does place within us "a new heart," and He writes His laws upon our hearts and minds, through the action of the Holy Spirit in us.  No longer do we have to await heaven to possess the kingdom of God, for it is given to us at this moment:  Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone will open to me, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me (Rev. 3:20).

Unlike Dottie, we no longer have to stand on the porch and cower in fear; there is One within us who is present to deliver us from all fear, One Who gives His Spirit to us "without measure," so that we know we are no longer slaves to fear, but now children of God.  The glory of Jesus is that, having crucified our mortal bodies with all their inherited and experienced scars, He has risen with a new, heavenly body that has overcome death and "the empty way of life handed down to us by our fathers."  And this is the mind, body, and soul that He gives to us if we remain in Him:  Christ in me, my hope of glory!