July 29 Daily Devotional

Creation is in pain. She moans and groans. Have you heard her? Have you seen her tears? You just need a sympathetic heart and an eye that sees beneath the surface.

Death is here; it stalks every living thing. Unexpectedly it pounces. There seem to be no victors, only victims. Frustration haunts creation. Everything is forever going but getting nowhere. We have hope when the sun rises and light leaps over the eastern hills. But as the day wears on, freedom escapes us. Every day is like another groaning turn of the wheel of creation. Hope rises, but death snuffs it out.

The Bible says that these two things—creation's suffering and our enduring hope—show that a new world is coming. It is about to be born. Creation is like a woman in labor. She cries out in pain until she has brought forth new life. The pain is awful, but the end is good.

So it is with this world. It is not abandoned to the demons of despair and endless pain, but it is in labor for a new creation. When the new creation is born, all groaning will turn to singing. And the children of God will conduct the choir of the cosmos.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published in 1994. This edition is copyright by Faith Alive Christian Resources, from whom may be ordered Daylight, the predecessor of Twilight.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this edition of Twilight are from the New International Version

Be sure to read the "Preface" and the "Acknowledgments" by the author.