A Prayer about the Singing of Redeemed Creation
I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Rev. 5:13–14)
Dear Jesus, I really need to connect with John’s vision and promise today. Even as my heart breaks and my anger grows over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and any of a number of environmental disasters, and even as I know that you order and use such hard providences in creation to humble the arrogant and grant repentance to the contrite (Rev. 8–9) . . . nevertheless I’m thankful that one day we’ll enjoy the perfected and never to be broken again world of the new heaven and new earth. I’m filled with hope by your promise of the new creation world of inviolate beauty, goodness, and truth. I greatly long for the day when creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will enjoy the glorious freedom of the children of God (Rom. 8:18–25).
By faith I can already hear the faint but sure singing of every creature “in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them” (Rev. 5:13) singing to you, Jesus. But what will that frustration-free (Rom. 8:20), fully engaged, full throated, pan-creature symphony and chorus actually sound like? I’ll gladly wait to see and hear.
Until that day, grant me the gospel sanity to want the conversion of your people more, much more, than I want an oil slick–free holiday by the sea. If by hurricane, earthquake, flood, tornado, oil spill, or whatever else your saving purposes are realized, I’ll humbly submit, even as I’ll also keep seeking to be a good steward of “the first heaven and the first earth” (Rev. 21:1) until the appearing of the new heaven and new earth. I pray with a conflicted yet hopeful heart, in Jesus’ name.
Amen.