In the beginning, when the earth was formless and empty, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. When the first human was created, the Spirit breathed into him making him a living soul. And the same Spirit continues to breathe through all creation to animate all living things. Furthermore, The  Spirit that animates all creation also groans over the creation that is now in bondage and decay. The Spirit groans in yearning for creation to reach its future liberation.  

Paul speaks graphically of this in Romans 8.  He says creation is groaning longing for liberation into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Yes, the liberation of all creation is closely linked with our liberation into the fullness of our adoption.  And creation longs for that day to come. It yearns with groaning to share in our liberation. We too are groaning for that day of full freedom. 

Where does our groaning come from?  Paul is clear that it comes from the Spirit.  We are groaning because we have received the first fruits of the Spirit who is groaning within us for our liberation and all creation.

So, the Spirit who hovered over the chaos and emptiness at the start of creation is now groaning over the chaos and brokenness of creation in bondage to decay and ruin. And His groaning is expressed in and through us as we groan with the Spirit over the brokenness and bondage all around us. The Spirit groans over all this and we groan with him as he groans within us.