subject to frustration

"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by it's own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."

- - Romans 8: 20-21

I wrote this verse down the other day. It really caught me, and got me thinking. It made me think a lot about King Solomon, in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. He held back nothing in the pursuit of pleasure, in the pursuit of knowledge & wisdom, and the pursuit of stuff/projects. And to each he found that it was just a 'chasing after the wind.'

"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind: nothing was gained under the sun." (Ecc. 1:10-11)

And so with the Romans verse, it seems that with creation, it was made 'frustrated'... that by itself, that this world, this reality we see day to day, if left to itself, cannot bring about any meaningful purpose...any meaningful answer as to "Why." And being frustrated - - not as some cruel joke, but ultimately to be as a guide for those on quest for the purpose, for the "why." It's almost cliche a reference, but the anecdote about the wealthy person, guy or girl, who's got everything they need, and yet they don't feel satisfied-- it's that great after school special! But however many times it's been on when we got home from school, the world's system is still fully engaged in this pursuit. And maybe that's what it means by 'bondage to decay.' This system ultimately will lead to nothing, to our possessions/success/pride being rotted away, since we have no way of taking them w/ us when we die (a truth too many of us ignore until it's too late...).

And yet for those searching, and asking, and thinking, there's a freedom from this system, a welcoming into a new reality, that's not based upon power, or influence, or status. But rather, a system that's based upon Love, Redemption, and real satisfaction. It says that the creation wasn't frustrated by itself, rather by the one who made it. Could it be that God set all this up, giving us the choice, giving us the freedom to love him in return, to step out of this system, out of the death, and into something...well, that's life giving?

It makes me think.