Help In Weakness

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

Romans 8:26-27

AS JOYCE FELL to her knees in her bedroom and began to pray through her tears about her father’s health situation, she seemed too bereft to find the words to say. She had run out of words. She had prayed so many times about this horrible circumstance that she no longer knew what to say. As she tried unsuccessfully to speak, only a long, steady groan came out. She laid her head on the bed and moaned.

Have you ever prayed about some situation, about a friend, about a need, about some trouble in your life that literally left you without words? You simply didn’t know what to say? In those times have you ever simply “groaned,” feeling desolate and broken and without hope?

From this passage we see the way God operates in such times to interpret our true needs. The Spirit begins interceding for us through such groans. He articulates our pain and anguish to our Father, and the Father understands the multiple needs beyond our comprehension and what divine action should be taken to make our lives right again.

Even when all seems lost or we’re off track in our prayers, God promises that the Spirit will translate our yearnings and even our fears, and he knows precisely how to make those prayers better than we can imagine. If all you can do is moan and groan, that’s fine. Sometimes that may be the Spirit working in you to let God know just how deeply you feel about the situation.