Too Sick To Speak

Too Sick To Speak

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. Romans 8:26

Walking down the hall, I heard the sounds of distress coming from Stacy’s room. It didn’t sound like screams or cries, but something more like moans and grunts. I quickened my pace.

When I entered the room, the moaning grew louder, and I saw Stacy writhing in pain.

“Stacy, it’s Dr. Anderson. Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Her answer contained no words, just more moaning. “Can you tell me where it hurts?” She began to vomit. “Can you tell me how long this has been going on?” Her only response was more vomiting and moaning. Clearly, she was too sick to speak, and she needed me to intercede and help her.

As today’s verse suggests, there are times when we are too weak or sick to pray or we don’t know how to pray as we should. But in those moments, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. When language fails us, God still hears our souls’ deepest cries.

I asked God to help me figure out what was causing Stacy’s pain. I could see that she was jaundiced, and when I touched the upper right quadrant of her abdomen, her moaning grew more intense. Though she was too sick to speak, all the signs and symptoms pointed to gallstones. I suspected she had a stone lodged in her bile duct, blocking the outflow from her liver and pancreas. A CT scan and liver function test confirmed the diagnosis.

We scheduled an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography procedure (ERCP) to pluck the stone away. When I saw Stacy the next morning on rounds, she was no longer writhing and moaning. She looked a whole lot better, and she could talk. We chatted briefly, and I told her how blessed she was, because only a few years ago, this disease would have been life-threatening.

Even though she hadn’t been able to speak at the height of her suffering, we both agreed that God had heard her prayers and that the Holy Spirit had interceded to help me diagnose her problem.

TODAY’S RX

If you don’t know what to say or you’re too weak or tired to pray, allow the Holy Spirit to intercede with groanings that are beyond words.

Holy Spirit, speak for me in times of distress and despair when I simply don’t have the words. Lift me out of the fog of worry, and comfort me with your perfect peace.