I came across a sad story this week, a story about a honeymoon disaster. The newlyweds arrived at the hotel in the wee hours with high hopes. They’d reserved a large room with romantic amenities. That’s not what they found.

Seems the room was pretty skimpy. The tiny room had no view, no flowers, a cramped bathroom and worst of all-no bed. Just a foldout sofa with a lumpy mattress and sagging springs. It was not what they’d hoped for; consequently, neither was the night.

The next morning the sore-necked groom stormed down to the manager’s desk and ventilated his anger. After listening patiently for a few minutes, the clerk asked, “Did you open the door in your room?”

The groom admitted he hadn’t. He returned to the suite and opened the door he had thought was a closet.

There, complete with fruit baskets and chocolates, was a spacious bedroom!’

Sigh.

Can’t you just see them standing in the doorway of the room they’d overlooked? Oh, it would have been so nice…

A comfortable bed instead of clumpy sofa.

A curtain-framed window rather than a blank wall. A fresh breeze in place of stuffy air.

An elaborate restroom, not a tight toilet.

But they missed it. How sad. Cramped, cranky, and uncomfortable while comfort was a door away. They missed it because they thought the door was a closet.

Why didn’t you try? I was asking as I read the piece. Get curious. Check it out. Give it a shot. Take a look. Why did you just assume the door led nowhere?

Good question. Not just for the couple but for everyone. Not for the pair who thought the room was all there was, but for all who feel cramped and packed in the anteroom called earth. It’s not what we’d hoped. It may have its moments, but it is simply not what we think it should be. Something inside of us groans for more.

We understand what Paul meant when he wrote: “We … groan inwardly as we wait eagerly our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23 NIV).

Groan. That’s the word. An inward angst. The echo from the cavern of the heart. The sigh of the soul that says the world is out of joint. Awry. Misspelled. Limping. Something is wrong.

When God Whispers Your Name

copyright [Word Publishing, 1994] Max Lucado, p. 185,186.

Used by permission